Call for Proposals

Blurred Lines: Digital Reading and Writing in Composition Studies (tentative title for edited collection)

Editors: Mary R. Lamb, Clayton State University and Lynée L. Gaillet, Georgia State University, Georgia State University

            Although most people intuitively connect reading and writing, and instruction in both is a longstanding component of education in America, in colleges and universities a one-hundred-year scholarly discussion differentiates the two practices, largely brought about by disciplinary changes at the post-secondary level. However, current scholars have demonstrated a renewed interest in the intersection of these activities. The purpose of this edited collection is to offer both a theory of collaborative reading in light of how digital literacies are blurring the lines between the two activities and pedagogical strategies for teaching reading and writing that reflect the realities of digital literacies.

            We envision the following subsections for this work:

Section 1: Collaborative Reading: Approaches to Reading in Crowded Digital Spaces

• How do we account for interpretations of texts that vary across digital platforms?
• What effect do reviews, contexts, links, and extra-textual material have on students’ choice of materials to read? And on their interpretations?
• How do reader response approaches play out in digital reading?

Section 2: Teaching Writing and Reading in Digital Spaces

• How do conditions of difficulty vary from print to digital reading?
• How do we teach students to “read” technologies critically, to push and play back—to become “resistant” readers to technology, when the software tells them, for example, that a certain book is worth “x” points or that their paper got a “25%” on originality?
• What are effective approaches to teaching collaborative reading with technology?
• What are the issues of knowledge transfer in digital reading and writing spaces?
• How does composing digital texts affect students’ reading?
• How do students respond to printed vs. digital texts in first-year writing?
• How do we sustain engaged reading on online writing courses?

Section 3: Teaching Rhetorical Reading/Writing with Sources in Digital Spaces

• What are effective ways to teach rhetorical reading in digital landscapes?
• How has digital reading affected researched writing in terms of authorship and student investment in writing?
• What ways are there for students to demonstrate (and instructors to capture) rhetorical reading other than written responses and essays?
  

Please send inquiries and submissions to marylamb@clayton.edu and lgaillet@gsu.edu

Submissions should include a 500-word abstract and an abbreviated C.V. (no longer than 5 pages)

Submissions due by February 15, 2017. Completed essays due August 2017.