The Cognitive Revolution in Writing Studies

Sommers, N. (1980). Revision strategies of student writers and experienced adult writers

Rose, M. (1980). Rigid rules, inflexible plans, and the stifling of language: A cognitivist analysis of writer's block

Rose explored the impact of rigid rules on writer’s block, through investigations of ten UCLA undergraduates who either block, or don’t.  The blockers often unnecessarily  adhered to certain writing rules and planning strategies, which stifled their writing and induced blocking.  His paper suggests that flexibility, fluidity and an openness to exploring alternatives to previously learned rules might lead to less blocked writing in the problem solving process of composing.  

Sommers employed a case study approach to determine the differences in revision strategies of experienced versus student writers.  She primarily discovered that less experienced writers focused on a linear revision process at the lexical, not semantic level, and are tied to previously taught rules, much like Rose’s blockers.  Experienced writers on the other hand, attested to viewing revision as an ongoing process which sought to create meaning in a productive collaboration with a much needed, imagined reader.  

I can certainly relate to the blockers’ experiences, as described by Rose.  Much like Ruth, Sylvia and Laurel, I often find myself hindered by a need for a “perfect” first paragraph, believing that what follows the first paragraph can’t be good if what comes before it isn’t excellent.  This type of thinking and writing is quite a contradiction to the way Sommers describes the experts, who use a first draft as exploration; a way to discover meaning and purpose of the piece, knowing they will extensively rewrite on many levels as they go.  

As a teacher and a student I was struck by the notion that novice writers revise in such a “novice-like way” because they are doing, simply, what they were taught to do.  They know something needs to be changed, but lack skills to revise beyond the lexical level, and the strategies needed to see writing as a process of discovery, and how to improve and rewrite the essay as a whole.  I would be interested in exploring how to equip writers with such strategies.  Perhaps there is an importance in understanding and teaching rules not as concrete, rigid confines, but as guidelines which can be rejected when they’re not useful.  

I’m also interested in exploring the affective aspects of writing, in addition to the cognitive components of writing as problem solving.  Rose mentions a possible strong emotional dimension, and I wonder how the consideration of emotions such as fear or insecurity might lead to a more complete understanding of writer’s block.