Redefining “Context” in Research on Writing

Abstract

Interest in the social aspects of composing has led writing researchers to examine more closely the contexts in which writing takes place. However, there is little agreement about what constitutes context as a theoretical construct. Because of this lack of agreement, writing researchers have not been able to delineate as fully as possible the interactions between context and composing. This article examines ways in which context has been defined and suggests a reconceptualization of this construct. The argument depends upon analyses of data gathered during a year-long ethnographic study of graduate journalism education. Specifically, results from the analyses of these data suggest that contexts for composing need to take into account individual writers' personal and social histories as they interact with the economic and political circumstances in which writers compose.