“IS TEACHING STILL POSSIBLE? WRITING, MEANING, AND HIGHER ORDER REASONING”

-Anne E. Berthoff

A Presentation by Elizabeth Brownlow

THE 3 P’S Berthoff utilizes several influential

theories in support of her arguments This presentation will take a look at

some of the main theories that she uses to support her own and how she does so. Philosophical Psychological Pedagogical

PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES IA Richards is cleary

one of Berthoff’s major theoretical influences

Berthoff cites Richards 7 times in this article alone

She has published 3 other pieces solely based upon the works of Richards

These include:

PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES IA Richards

“Speculative Instruments” (1955)

Argues that Linguistic Scientists need to stay out of the Humanities, for they do not understand the language in the way that those in the Humanities fields do :

“ He thinks of it as a code and has not yet learned that it is an organ-the supreme organ of the mind’s self-ordering growth….that language is an instrument for controlling our becoming.”(9)

Argues that research serves no purpose if it cannot be applied in the classroom.

Berthoff refers to his arguments against linguistic scientists to bolster her argument against the use of empirical research in the study of Writing.

PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES CK Ogden & IA Richards “The meaning of meaning; a study of the influence

of language upon thought and of the science of symbolism” (1938) Language inevitably brings about ambiguity because meaning is not created by words

but by people Focuses on the triadicity of communication

Berthoff utilizes this notion of triadicity in reference to their “Semiotic Triangle,” which she

calls the “curious triangle” (318) to support the idea that teachers are responsible for

criticism of their own pedagogical assumptions.

Berthoff also suggests that it is precisely this variance in meaning that teachers need to narrow in an effort to “control language, so that there are not too many meanings at a time.” (313)

Wikipedia. n.d. [OgdenSemiotic Triangle] Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ogden_semiotic_triangle.png

PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCESSusanne K. Langer

“Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling” (1972)

Langer minutely examines facts and theories on the human mind from various disciplines

Generalizations of the mind must not be based on sciences that deal primarily with the physicality, structure, or behavior of organisms because the mind is not merely logical, but emotive in nature.

Study of the mind must also focus on the expressive and communicative arts, as well as interactions with societies, as the mind is emotive in nature.

The concepts of the Nature of Reality need to be revised, with the focus shifting from Life and Mind as things to events.

Berthoff cites this source in an effort to illustrate her main problem with psychologists; that they

commonly view cognition as a series of motor skills.

PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCESLev Vygotsky “Thought and Language” (1962) – “The Development of

Scientific Concepts in Childhood”o Vygotsky’s main arguments against Piaget appear in this work.

o He believes that Piaget is on the right track with his separation of “spontaneous” and “nonspontaneous” ideas and his admission that nonspontaneous ideas may deserve independent investigation. However, Vygotsky feels that Piaget’s errors are in his reasoning:

He fails to see the interaction between spontaneous and nonspontaneous ideas and the “bonds that unite them into a total system of concepts” (84)

He treats children’s nature (egocentrism) as the enemy to be fought against through socialization

He separates child thought and the influence of instruction.

o He also discusses metacognition in the following terms: “becoming conscious of our operations and viewing each as a process of a certain kind—such as

remembering or imagining—leads to their mastery.” (91-2)

*Berthoff uses these ideas to undercut Piaget’s theories of development and support her argument for the need for the

promotion of student metacognition.*

PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCESMargaret Donaldson

“Children’s Minds” (1979) Challenges theories about

language and thinking Suggests, above all, that the

notion of egocentrism is limiting.

Problems with Piaget: his focus on egocentrism his claim that children are limited in

their ability to reason deductively She also disagrees with

Chomsky’s suggestion that language-learning skills are isolated from mental growth, enabling language through an inherent “acquisition device”

“he first makes sense of situations and then uses this kind of understanding to help him to make sense of what is said to him.” (56)

*Berthoff references this work mainly to support her arguments against Piaget’s

theories of development*

PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCESKenneth Burke “Permanence and Change” (1954)

o cited 1545 times

o While all organisms interpret the signs around them in order to react and survive, humans utilize speech to take this interpretation further into interpretation of interpretation.

o Berthoff uses this work to set the tone for her article and the stage for her arguments in support of metacognition.

PEDAGOGICAL INFLUENCESPaulo Freire “The Politics of

Education” (1985)o “Conscientization” defined as

“the process in which men, not as recipients, but as knowing subjects achieve a deepening awareness both of the sociocultural reality that shapes their lives and of their capacity to transform that reality” (93)

o Believes that metacognition leads to questioning of social morés and, therefore, helps one to develop their own response to their surroundings.

o “Banking model” revolves around the idea that education which expects students to memorize information without application results in lack of original thought and inability to apply knowledge

o Feels that a good educator “experiences the act of knowing together with his students” (55)

PEDAGOGICAL INFLUENCESIra Shor “Critical Teaching and

Everyday Life” (1980)o Heavily influenced by Freire o “Concept Method,”

“teaches people to invent generic concepts appropriate for related specifics drawn from experience.” (168)

o His methods involve: Socialization and Free Writing A “Simplified” introduction to

Prewriting Think-Itemize-Write method Dictation Sequence method

Self correction Voicing

Composite Theme Development Pre-Reading Profiling

“…it is common for our class dialogue to remain more critical than our class compositions through most of the process. Both advance from where we started, but at different speeds.” (145)

Columbia University. n.d. [Ira Shor with Paulo Freire] Retrieved from http://www.columbia.edu/itc/tc/parker/adlearnville/transformativelearning/freire.html

PEDAGOGICAL INFLUENCESJeanne Fahnestock “Semantic and

Lexical Coherence” (1983)o Focuses primarily on a need for

students to understand coherence in composition in terms of lexical and semantic relationships in sentence and clause structures

o Paragraph models and model sets put forward by student texts cannot possibly be comprehensible enough to produce “satisfactory prose” (400)

o Suggests focus on sentence structure in terms of relationship become the focus of compositional coherence.

o

o emphasis should be placed on the meaning of the relationships between sentences and clauses

o students should study sentences and clauses individually

This supports Berthoff’s main argument that students who understand their own cognitive processes while writing will create more meaningful and, therefore, coherent compositions.

REFERENCESBerthoff, A. E. (1982). I.A. Richards and the Audit of Meaning. New Literary History, 14(1), 63-79. Retrieved September

28, 2013, from the JSTOR database.

Berthoff, A. E. (1990). The World, The Text, And The Reader: I. A. Richards's Hermeneutics:I. A. Richards: His Life And

Work John Paul Russo. Modern Philology, 88(2), 166. Retrieved October 5, 2013, from the JSTOR database.

Berthoff, A.E. (2011). Is teaching still possible? Writing, meaning, and higher order reasoning. In V.Villanueva & K. Arola

(Eds.),  Cross-talk in comp theory: A reader ( 3rd ed., pp. 309-323). Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of

English.

Burke, K. (1935). Permanence & change, an anatomy of purpose. New York, NY: New Republic Inc.

Donaldson, M. C. (1978). Children's minds. New York, NY: Norton.

Fahnestock, J. (1983). Semantic and lexical coherence. College Composition and Communication, 34(4), 400-416.

Retrieved September 7, 2013, from the JSTOR database.

Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education: culture, power, and liberation. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.

Langer, S. K. (1967). Mind. An essay on human feeling. Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins P.

REFERENCESMacleod, R. B. (1967). The Arts as Phenomena of the Life Process; Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling. Vol. 1 by

Susanne K. Langer. Science, 157(3796), 1543-1544. Retrieved September 22, 2013, from the JSTOR

database.

Ogden, C. K., & Richards, I. A. (1938). The meaning of meaning; a study of the influence of language upon

thought and of the science of symbolism,. London: Harcourt, Brace, & Co.

Richards, I. A. (1955). Speculative instruments. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Richards, I. A., & Berthoff, A. E. (1991). Richards on rhetoric: I.A. Richards, selected essays (1929-1974). New

York: Oxford University Press.

Shor, I. (1980). Critical teaching and everyday life. Boston, MA: South End Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vygotsky, L. S., & Cole, M. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Wirth, L. (1937). Book review: Permanence and change: An anatomy of purpose: Kenneth Burke. American

Journal of Sociology, 43(3), 483. Retrieved October 2, 2013, from the JSTOR database.