On Writtenness

The Cultural Politics of Academic Writing

Joan Turner

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781350133044
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781472508973
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Higher Education
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book develops the concept of 'writtenness' (historically-formed stylistic and aesthetic values within writing) to highlight the demands, taken-for-granted ideals, institutional frictions, and changing circumstances of academic writing in English in the contemporary international university.

Recognising the political importance of the role that English plays in an increasingly internationalized higher education network, Joan Turner pits writtenness against the contingency and instability of international English in real-life institutional contexts. In doing so, she brings out the theoretical significance of this, as writing becomes a motor of linguistic change and can no longer be seen simply as the repository of academic standards.

Of particular interest to academics and postgraduates in TESOL, applied linguistics, rhetoric and composition, English as a Lingua Franca studies, and the sociolinguistics of writing, as well as to EAP practitioners, this book is among the first to theoretically consider the implications for the cultural homogeneity of the written word. It also offers a unique perspective on the role of writtenness within the broader historical context of leaving the era of print culture. As such, this book is highly recommended for students, researchers, and policy makers alike.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1. On writtenness: an introductory overview
• 2. On the historical construction of writtenness as an ideological regime
• 3. On the underlying values of writtenness as a transdisciplinary criterion
• 4. On polished prose and its frictions: the contemporary politics of academic style
• 5. On the elite and remedial economy of English in international higher education
• 6. On producing writtenness: misrecognized value, mystical process, misunderstood pedagogies, misaligned roles
• 7. On writtenness and textual trade: ethical boundaries, inequitable assessment and institutional complicity
• 8. On proofreading and its indexicalities: social attitudes, the student experience, textual mobility and print culture in transition
• 9. On written English in flux: disrupting the smooth read
• Bibliography
• Index