HomePublicationsUnderstanding Writing Transfer Chapter 1: Five Essential Principles about Writing Transfer Book MenuUnderstanding Writing Transfer SectionsPart 1Part 2ChaptersForewordChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Contributors Videos Buy in PrintISBN: 9781620365854January 2017 | Stylus Publishing Jessie L. MooreMoore offers a brief primer on terms and concepts used in the collection and identifies five principles about writing transfer that emerged from Elon University’s Critical Transitions: Writing and the Question of Transfer research seminar. The chapter also includes a table identifying which subsequent chapters illustrate each essential principle. What is Writing Transfer? Moore writes, “Briefly, writing transfer refers to a writer’s ability to repurpose or transform prior knowledge about writing for a new audience, purpose, and context” (p. 2). In the Elon University research seminar on Critical Transitions: Writing and the Question of Transfer, scholars used “transfer” as an umbrella term, which also connects this area of inquiry and practice with broader discussions about the transfer of knowledge and practices. Other terms that come into play to describe learners’ transfer of writing knowledge include: transformation or transformative learning integration application of prior knowledge repurposing or remixing prior knowledge consequential transitions generalization Each of these terms connects to different theories of learners and learning. Discussion Questions Writing transfer is complex – even for experienced writers! Thinking about a time when you had to write for a new audience and purpose, how did you learn about your audience’s expectations? What prior knowledge helped you analyze and respond to the new writing context? If you encountered any missteps, how did you figure out that you were off course with your writing drafts, and how did you adjust your writing strategies? If you teach… How do you talk with students about your discipline’s expectations for writing? How do you learn about – or ask students to reflect on – the prior writing knowledge your students bring to your course? How do you help students identify and describe the writing knowledge they have learned in your course that might be relevant to other writing contexts? What writing knowledge and rhetorically based concepts (e.g., genre, audience, purpose, rhetorical situation, discourse community, etc.) do faculty teach in your school’s writing programs (e.g., first-year writing, writing in the disciplines courses, writing-intensive courses, etc.)? In what ways do courses across the curriculum build on those terms and concepts when framing writing assignments and in class discussions? How – and where in the curriculum and co-curriculum – does your institution measure students’ transfer of writing knowledge? Share:
