Humpty, Alice, and the Composition Prism : A Perspective on Teaching Process / Robert L. Root, Jr.

Two opposing views of composition instruction--one emphasizing the creativity and self-involvement of the student (or producer), and one emphasizing the communication produced (the product)--can be reconciled through a perspective that emphasizes the process of composition. It is in process, defined as "the act of composing" or "the act of producing," that all student composing takes place. Both producer-orientation and product-orientation in the composition classroom can shortchange process. Producer, product, and process are not mutually exclusive, however, and all three elements, determined by the purpose of the discourse, can function together to turn the classic, one-dimensional communication triangle of encoder-signal-decoder into a three-dimensional prism. Teaching or writing must provide aims and occasions and be centered on process, allowing individual writers the freedom to engage process in ways that observation and experience have shown writers really use. (AEA)

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