Rhetoric in Composition and Communication:
historical contexts and national trends in undergraduate curricula
Thomas P. Miller http://www.gened.arizona.edu/tmiller/rsa.htm
Discussions of how rhetoricians in English and communications can work more closely together have focused on shared areas of study. In considering such possibilities, it is important to look past prevailing models of disciplines as distinct areas of scholarship to examine the pragmatics of what practitioners do. The distinction between fields of study and fields of work is particularly important in considering the assumptions and purposes of rhetorical studies. On both sides of the modern divide between the arts and sciences, rhetoric is concerned with the pragmatics of discourse--with the situational constraints, collective purposes, and political assumptions that shape the conditions and consequences of ideas and practices, including those that define rhetoric itself. Assuming such a perspective can help us to reflect upon the potentials of work with rhetoric in communications and English studies.
In one of the more notable attempts to foster collaborations between rhetoricians in communications and English departments, the Alliance of Rhetoric Societies’ Conference on the Status and Future of Rhetorical Studies, one of the four sets of questions set for the discussion concerned teaching: “What does it mean to teach rhetoric? What does it mean to teach composition and performance seriously? What is the relationship between rhetoric and composition? Should they be distinguished?” (http://www.comm.umn.edu/ARS/). A couple of points in these framing questions bear note: it is assumed that the parallel to composition in communications is “performance,” but that parallel is apparently not strong enough to support the following line of questioning, which focuses on only one of the two disciplinary points of reference. The responses of the participants from communications and English departments are interesting in a predictable way because those in communications tend to treat rhetoric as a theoretical and critical art, and the others largely identify rhetorical studies with the teaching of composition.
Such tendencies arise from the disciplinary locations and locutions that shape what rhetoric has come to be about in communications and English departments. The two fields of work have historically defined each other in ways that bear note. On one side of the arts and sciences, rhetoric has been defined by the dominance of literary studies, and on the other by social science methodologies. The divisions run through the types of work done in the fields. In English, rhetoric’s identification with composition was marginalized when rhetoricians concerned with public address and journalism left the area, leaving composition and “creative writing” as polar opposites without journalistic genres and other forms of public discourse to mediate between them. In communications, the identification of rhetoric with speech came to be compounded by a tendency to define rhetorical theory by classical models. These tendencies have been called into question by the technological changes that have undermined the traditional functions of English departments as bastions of the culture of the book, and the interdisciplinary trends that are identified with cultural studies have opened up possibilities to redress institutional divisions. For that to occur, we need to attend to the differing functions and institutional dynamics in the two fields of work. Some of those differences can be noted by taking account of enrollments in the decades when rhetoric and composition were reestablished in English departments and the comparative graduate and undergraduate enrollments today:
Degrees in English, Communications and Selected Disciplines
Discipline / 1970-1BAs / 1980-1
BAs / 1990-1
BAs / 2000-1
BAs / 2000-1
Masters / 2000-1
Doctorates
Total...... / 839,730 / 935,140 / 1,094,538 / 1,244,171 / 542,010 / 44,904
Business.... / 114,729 / 198,983 / 249,311 / 265,746 / 116,475 / 1180
Communications...... / 10,324 / 29,428 / 51,650 / 58,013 / 5,218 / 368
Communications technologies...... / 478 / 1,854 / 1,123 / 1,050 / 533 / 2
Computer and info sciences ...... / 2,388 / 15,121 / 25,083 / 41,954 / 16,038 / 768
Education ...... / 176,307 / 108,074 / 110,807 / 105,566 / 145,104 / 6716
English lang and lit/letters ...... / 64,342 / 32,254 / 51,841 / 51,419 / 6,941 / 1,506
Psychology...... / 38,187 / 41,068 / 58,655 / 73,534 / 15,196 / 4,659
Table drawn up from tables 252 and 257 from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d02/tables/dt252.asp; and http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d02/tables/dt257.asp)
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What are the purposes of studying english and communications?
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Selected Mission Statements:
Lake Erie College
WHAT IS THE COMMUNICATIONS MAJOR?
This major provides students with courses both in writing processes and in the history and theory of different forms of communication. This double focus is based on the belief that the processes of oral and written communication must be grounded in substantive understanding of their theoretical and historical backgrounds.
WHAT IS THE ENGLISH MAJOR?
The major in English is directed towards the student who seeks a background in British and American literature as the basis of study in the liberal arts or who wishes to pursue graduate studies in this field. Students may also wish to combine courses in English with a major in another field such as History or Communications. (http://www.lec.edu/academics/academ1.html)
Communication and Culture Department, Indiana University
The Department of Communication and Culture (CMCL) advances the study of communication as a cultural practice, and teaches an array of perspectives that enable students to prepare broadly for a variety of careers. Requirements for the major and minor are flexible in order to promote individualized programs of study in three interrelated aspects of communication: rhetoric, media, and performance and ethnographic studies.
Rhetorical studies orient students to the strategic dimension of human communication associated with deliberation, advocacy, and persuasion in a variety of social, political, and professional settings. Studies of media focus primarily on film and television, with additional emphasis on topics such as radio, recorded music, and interactive digital technologies. Performance and ethnographic studies explore an array of communicative practices, from the conversations and disputes of everyday life to artful performances at cultural events, which are the competencies essential for participation in social life. It also brings intercultural and transnational considerations into focus by examining how diversity and differences of various kinds are negotiated across boundaries. Together, these three dimensions examine linkages among corporate, social, and governmental organizations, ideology, and politics, showing how communication influences public cultures across the globe. They provide a strong grounding in the history, theory, production, and critique of communication that ranges from interpersonal dialogue, storytelling, and presentational speaking to film and television. http://www.indiana.edu/~bulletin/iub/coas/comm.html#course
Department of English, Appalachain State University
The Department of English has as its most fundamental goal helping all students to develop literacy and analytical skills that will lead to life long learning. . . . [W]e strive to help students become literate, articulate, and open-minded, qualities that are the hallmarks of a liberal education. The study of literature and the exploration of language and writing – the primary activities in the Department of English – are critical elements to liberal education. One way the department contributes to the achievement of a liberal education is through its freshman writing and literature series, where we strive to help students understand the function and power of language and appreciate our shared literary heritage. . . .
The Department of English serves those students who seek to become teachers of literature and writing as well as those who wish to enter graduate and professional education in literature and writing. We also serve those students who wish to develop their writing and other communication skills for career planning in business and industry. . . . http://www.english.appstate.edu/mission.html
Communications Program offered by Depts. of English and Art and Visual Culture, Centenary College
Communicating successfully in our technology-infused world requires a combination of strong speaking and writing skills as well as an in-depth understanding of visual and interactive modes of expression such as photography, film and multimedia. Centenary communication majors explore all of these areas through a rich body of courses that approach human communication as a cultural and social phenomenon.
Our project-oriented curriculum challenges students to draw on their broad liberal arts education and their own creativity to address the types of problems communication professionals face regularly. In writing and production courses such as Writing for the Mass Media, Video and Film Production, and Multimedia Design, professors work closely with students to help them learn skills and develop strategies necessary for producing creative, effective media texts. Similarly, professors in courses such as History of Photography and Cyberculture provide opportunities for students to investigate the relationship between media and culture; in so doing, student develop analytical skills crucial to understanding how media texts influence and are, in turn, influences by society. The major culminates in the Senior Seminar in which students prepare for their job or graduate school search by creating electronic portfolios that feature the best examples from the communication projects begun in their courses, internships, community service, and campus media work.
The communication curriculum is designed to give students experience with a wide range of media while also allowing them to concentrate their major coursework in the medium that best corresponds to their personal and professional goals. After getting a broad introduction to communication studies students pursue one of three tracks: professional writing, film/television/video, or new media.
http://www.centenary.edu/majors/communication/
What is an english major about, besides literature?
Undergraduate English programs were surveyed by MLA in 1984, and over five hundred institutions were surveyed in 1991. Two thirds of all undergraduate courses were in writing, half were in composition, and one quarter were in literature. While the percentages were higher in public than in private institutions (67% vs. 49%), 60% of all respondents said that computers were used in at least some writing classes. Most departments reported English education offerings, with almost twenty percent hoping to expand them, and another quarter that English education received little support.
Requirements and majors varied by types of institutions. Many large institutions (more than 15,000) had more wide-ranging requirements, but such departments were less likely than either mid-sized public institutions or departments with joint programs to require linguistics, the history of language, rhetoric, and general or advanced writing courses. Huber speculates that this pattern may be due to the fact that these courses were required in English education majors, and there clearly was a broad concern for raising the disciplinary base of education majors. The following statistics are based on a sample of over 300 departments:
Percentages of Majors Requiring Writing and Language Coursesby type of departments / Joint
Programs Depts. / Separate English Depts.
Midsized
Public / Small
Private / Very Large
Writing / 45.3 / 33.8 / 23.3 / 26.9
Lang, ling, and rhetoric / 32.8 / 30.8 / 10.0 / 17.9
Adv. Comp or writing / 58.3 / 57.4 / 29.6 / 34.2
History of English
or comparative grammar / 62.5 / 48.5 / 23.2 / 35.4
Bettina Huber. “Undergraduate English Programs: Findings from an MLA
Survey of the 1991-1992 Year.” ADE Bulletin 115 (Winter 1996): 34-73
While most departments (56%) offered concentrations in more than literature, the percentages increase with the size of the institution, with 71.1% of institutions of more than 15,000 having other majors, 58.6% of institutions with 2,000 to 15,000, and 38.9% of those with fewer than 2,000 students.
Percentage of Departments Offering Courses in 1989-91Courses Offered / 2 Yr / 4 Yr / All
Composition / 97.4 / 95.6 / 96.2
Creative Wrtg / 74.4 / 89.6 / 84.5
Develop English / 88.5 / 63.2 / 70.6
Prof/ tech wrtg / 57.7 / 65.4 / 63.2
Upper-level Comp/rhet / 0.0 / 79.7 / 55.5
Journalism / 52.6 / 36.5 / 41.4
Rhet/comp theory / 9.0 / 40.1 / 30.9
Am lit survey / 81.4 / 86.8 / 85.1
Brit lit survey / 71.8 / 81.9 / 78.8
World lit survey / 60.3 / 60.7 / 60.9
Shakespeare / 37.2 / 97.3 / 78.8
Chaucer / 0.6 / 72.5 / 50.8
Milton / 0.0 / 56.6 / 39.3
Other single- or dual author / 2.6 / 45.9 / 32.6
Genre courses / 48.1 / 82.4 / 71.6
Period courses / 14.1 / 75.8 / 57.1
Lit crit/ theory / 1.3 / 74.2 / 52.1
History Engl lang / 3.2 / 69.0 / 49.0
Lit analysis / 0.6 / 27.7 / 19.5
Women writers / 33.3 / 71.2 / 59.4
Ethnic/minority lit / 24.4 / 69.0 / 55.3
Film or film &lit / 40.4 / 61.5 / 55.2
Linguistics / 5.8 / 50.0 / 36.6
Myth/folklore / 23.7 / 42.3 / 36.5
Speech / 51.3 / 23.4 / 32.1
Comparative grammar / 3.8 / 34.9 / 25.4
Number of depts. / 156 / 364 / 524
Percentages of Concentrations in Departments Offering Concentrations
Area of Concentration / 1991-92 / 1884-85Literature (general) / 72.2
Creative writing / 54.6 / 56.9
Writing (e.g., professional, technical) / 45.9 / 29.2
English education / 42.8 / 57.4
American literature / 31.4
Communications (e.g., journalism, speech, drama) / 20.1 / 25.2
Linguistics / 13.4 / 19.3
For related research and analysis, see “What’s going on with English majors?” at http://www.gened.arizona.edu/tmiller/ccc.htm
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What is a communications major?
Comparatively less research has been done on communications majors, which vary much more
As defined by the Department of Education, Communications studies “modes and behavioral aspects of human communications and the formal means by which society organizes communication.”
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widely than programs of study in English. While English majors have begun to expand beyond traditional conceptions of literature, in part as a result of the influence of cultural studies, communications do not have a traditional set of core concerns and vary from media studies or mass communications through communication skills programs to departments and colleges stressing journalism, broadcasting, or the performing arts. Many such disciplinary configurations may have rhetorical sources or associations, but very few foreground them as a shared background for the programs of study.
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