A Taxonomy of Life Writing: Exploring the Functions of Meaningful Self-Sponsored Writing in Everyday Life-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

A Taxonomy of Life Writing: Exploring the Functions of Meaningful Self-Sponsored Writing in Everyday Life

Published:2023-12-12 Issue:1 Volume:41 Page:70-106
ISSN:0741-0883
Container-title:Written Communication
language:en
Short-container-title:Written Communication

Author:

Lindenman Heather¹^ORCID,Driscoll Dana Lynn²^ORCID,Efthymiou Andrea³,Pavesich Matthew⁴^ORCID,Reid Jennifer⁵

Affiliation:

1. Department of English, Elon University, Elon, NC, USA

2. Department of English and Jones White Writing Center, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA

3. Writing Center, Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), Flushing, NY, USA

4. University Writing Program, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

5. Alumni Memorial Union and Student Engagement, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA

Abstract

This essay takes as its focus the everyday writing that people compose: the self-sponsored, nonobligatory texts that people write mainly outside of work and school. Through analysis of 713 survey responses and 27 interviews with accompanying writing samples, this study provides a panoramic view of the functions of self-sponsored writing and rhetorical activity for U.S. adults, ages 18 to 65+ years, from a range of geographic, cultural, and professional backgrounds. The Taxonomy of Life Writing presented in this essay demonstrates the range of ways that writing functions in people’s daily lives. It includes 19 key functions of life writing, organized into six metafunctions: Creativity and Expression, Identity and Relationships, Organization and Coordination, Preservation and Memory, Reflection and Emotion, and Teaching and Learning. Based on our findings, we affirm the important and diverse functions that life writing serves and propose expanding the threshold concepts of writing to include greater focus on nonobligatory, self-sponsored writing activity.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Literature and Literary Theory,Communication

Link

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/07410883231207106

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