Old Email Archive

digest 1996-03-08 #001



11:39 PM 3/8/96 +0800
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 

Daily SLS Email Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 8 Mar 1996 04:20:27 -0800
From: Karl Henrik Flyum 
Subject: WAC/SLS - whats the connection?
Hello all!
Once again a lurker surfacing - this time all the way from Oslo, Norway,
and
introducing genuine "norwacadenglish" language.  Although I
really had no
intention to post for a while yet, I've just come up with a problem that
I
really need YOUR help with, a question concerning SLS' history.  My
context,
by the way, is that I'm trying to introduce SLS to the norwegian
academia,
as I've recently become the one and only teacher of academic writing at
a
university with about 38 000 students.  Presently I'm preparing both an
article and an introductory lecture on the research field of SLS,
intended
for a broad audience of academic faculty that are not necessarily
researchers in literature.  Here goes:
1       Background/sources:
In his well known article "Literature and Science: The State of the
Field"
(Isis 1978), G.S.Rousseau does analyse the development of the research
field
up to the date of the article - and concludes that the field is in a
kind of
crisis.  But then something seems to have happened in the early eighties
-
partly motivated by Rosseaus reflections and the discussions that
followed -
that lead to the institution of the "MLA-independent"
organization SLS.  But
what was it that happened, and why did SLS grow and evolve so rapidly
afterwards?  I've found some clues in the intoductions and prefaces to
George Levines "One Culture", Stuart Peterfreunds
"Literature and Science.
Theory & Practice", and the Schatzberg/Waite/Johnson
bibliography volume.
2       Problem:
What I do not find, is comments on the possibility of a strong relation
between the development of SLS and the growth of the "Writing
Across the
Curriculum-movement"at american universities in the period of ca.
1980 to
the present.  Was some of the same people involved in both developments?
 If
so: was this a strategic choice of sorts?  Are there any institutional,
social or other connections that are not illuminated in my sources?  Did
the
creation of work opportunities that WAC has lead to influence the
people
involved in SLS to regard their competence as something of a more
practical
and general value than mere scholarly interest, and make them think
that
that SLS could lead to more career options than previously conceived? 
Has
SLS reached a wider academic audience mediated by the interest in
academic
writing and writing pedagogy that WAC has brought?  And so on.
2      Question:
Do you know of any significant connections between the SLS organization
and
the "Writing Across the Curriculum-movement" - that is a
"new" field of
praxis (& NB employment) in american academia?  And what might
these
connections be - that is if they exist?  And particularly: did
WAC-enthusiasm help and motivate when SLS was made? - as it grows?
Oh, I almost forgot that I have another source question too: I know
I've
once read an article in english on writing pedagogy, in which the
authors
main point is to suggest that knowledge of genre development can be used
to
design better writing assignments, because - as far as I remember - an
intimate understanding of the historical evolution of the genre can be
used
to model a similar development in the students learning process.  If
this
rings a bell with you, please hand me the reference.
Your answers and opinions to my questions will be of great help to me.
References & citations from sources are obviously welcome, but your
own
testimonies will be of  equal or even greater value.  Answers may be
posted
directly to me (adress below), or to this newslist.
(Sorry 'bout the long post - I guess its a beginners syndrom :-)
_______________________________________
*** Karl Henrik Flyum *** University Lecturer *** Department of Teacher
Education and School Development *** University of Oslo (Norway) ***
Po.box
1099 Blindern *** Po. code: N-0316 OSLO *** Tel. +47 22 85 82 52 ***
Fax.
+47 22 85 44 09 *** e-mail: khflyum@ils.uio.no *** Www homepage:
http://www.uio.no/~khflyum/index.html ***
_______________________________________