Welcome to English 570/Education 621, "Introduction to Composition Studies." A course called "Intro to Comp Studies" can be so many things, which is part of what makes composition studies such a vibrant, dynamic field. In this iteration of 570/621, we'll focus a particular lens on composition studies: rhetorical theory. Whether rhetoric is defined traditionally ("the art of discovering the available means of persuasion in a given case"), more contemporaneously ("language as symbolic action"), or functionally ("essential for a life of active citizenship"), its place in the composition classroom is central--so central, in fact, that it frequently appears transparent. In this class we'll talk about rhetoric in ways which make it apparent. If I were to push on the metaphor of rhetoric as a lens through which one might view composition studies, or more specifically what happens in the composition classroom, I might suggest that rhetoric helps us see the composition classroom with greater clarity, focus, and expertise. Rhetoric gives us more access to what happens in that space, a heightened awareness of its possibilities and limitations, and more options for the work that we do there.

If we take rhetoric as a way to know or produce knowledge about the composition classroom, or as a way to understand the composition classroom, or as a way to inform the composition classroom, or even as a way to create the composition classroom, then we define the relationship between rhetoric and composition as one of theory and practice. This definition is hardly neutral, as you will see early in the semester. However, it is one which has a great deal to offer, especially if we take the relationship between theory and practice to be reciprocal: theory informs practice just as practice informs theory.

So what? Well, in this class we'll consistently ask ourselves and each other about the practical value that the rhetorical theory we're studying has for the composition classroom. How can the rhetorical theory you read this week be put into practice in the writing class you'll teach next week? And how does the practice alter your understanding of the theory the week after that?

Many people would say that rhetoric and composition are (is?) marginalized in higher education because of their (its?) practicality or utility. And these people would be correct, at least in part. Some of those people, though, also would say that this practical or useful component of the discipline is one of the things that makes the discipline so dynamic, so interesting, so integral, so vital. You might guess that I am one of those people, and with that in mind I welcome you to this course.