This article challenges current assumptions about the teaching and assessment of critical thinking in the composition classroom, particularly the practice of measuring critical thinking through individual written texts. Drawing on a case study of a class that incorporated disability studies discourse, and applying discourse analysis to student…

Examines the organization of discourse communities around the production and legitimization of particular forms of knowledge and social practices and the way students learn, or fail to learn, the conventions of a discourse community. Suggests writing teachers consider the pedagogical implications of teaching the conventions of any discourse…

Examines three articles written jointly by the same researchers and reporting the results of the same study in three different specialized journals. Points out the inadequacy of the current heuristic for analyzing audiences, and provides the basis for creating a different audience analysis heuristic based on rhetorical analysis of discourse. (HTH)

Addresses ways in which discourse can be categorized, focusing on the relationship between writer and audience. Describes results of a case study of the proposal writing of executives in a large consulting firm to illustrate concepts related to intentionality in writing. (FL)

Discusses and problematizes the notion of agency in the English classroom. Considers both teachers and students to be constructed agents in the classroom. Focuses on an excerpt from a first-year writing class. Provides comments from the teacher and four students in the class. (HB)