About

In 2013, a search through the Conference on College Composition and Communication program for the term “cognition” yielded very few results. In fact, the term “cognition” has not appeared as a category for submissions to Cs in several years. As Carol Berkenkotter and Thomas Huckin’s (1995) analysis of CCCC program topics has shown, the “current topics of interest” are defined for participants by conference leadership and their selected theme and to be fair, may not encompass all interests of all members of the field. Yet this search (and the omission of the term “cognition” from any of the CFP language) gave the perception that very few, if any, attendees of that year’s CCCC were sharing ideas, theories, or research related to writing and cognition. Of course, this is false: there has been and continues to be significant interest in the mind, how we learn, how we process information and how this all relates to writing.

In response to this search, co-chairs Patricia Portanova and Michael Rifenberg organized a Special Interest Group on Cognition and Writing at the 2014 Conference on College Composition and Communication in Indianapolis. Our first featured speaker was John Hayes, the well-known cognitive psychologist, who shared his research on the supposed death of cognition and writing research. As he discusses further in the Foreword to this collection, Hayes complicated the rise and fall myth of cognitive studies by examining citations of his well-known article he co-authored with Linda Flower in 1980, which have actually steadily increased in published journal articles over the past 25 years—with the most citations of his work since its publication appearing in 2012.

Hayes’s presentation in 2014 spurred a lively discussion among thirty-six new SIG members. The Special Interest Group identified several potential reasons for the decline in cognitive research within English Departments. Cognitive research frequently hinges upon interdisciplinary collaboration. Advances in cognitive research and new technologies for research may be best understood by experts in fields such as in neuroscience, psychology, and special education, but interdisciplinary collaboration is still infrequent in the field where tenure decisions are often based on “publish or perish” expectations; co-authored work may not receive the same value as individual scholarship. With teaching, service, and other administrative responsibilities, it is often difficult to arrange interdisciplinary research projects logistically. However, interdisciplinary projects may mean access to new technology such as eye-tracking software, fMRI imaging, statistical analysis software, and other useful empirical research tools to expand our understanding of the mind at work while writing. After the success of the initial SIG session, members indicated a strong desire to continue the group.

Today, we have over eighty-five members and have achieved Standing Group Status. We continue to collaborate on research at the intersection of cognitive science and writing studies. 

 


Co-Chairs

The co-chairs serve three full years as leadership of the Cognition and Writing Standing Group. Current leadership will be in office from 2018-2021.

Patricia Portanova

 

Co-Chair

2012-Present

patricia.portanova@gmail.com

 

Patricia Portanova is Associate Professor of English at Northern Essex Community College, where she teaches writing and communication and oversees the Liberal Arts Center. She earned her Ph.D. in Composition Studies from the University of New Hampshire, where she served as editor of Transitions, a journal of undergraduate writing. She has served as chair of the Northeast Writing Across the Curriculum Consortium (NEWACC). Her research focuses on cognition and writing, civic inquiry, and public rhetoric.

Michael Rifenburg

 

Co-Chair

2012-Present

Michael.Rifenburg@ung.edu

 

J. Michael Rifenburg is Associate Professor of English at the University of North Georgia, where he directs first-year writing and leads workshops on faculty writing through UNG's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Leadership. With Patricia, he co-chairs the Cognition and Writing Special Interest Group at CCCC. His book, The Embodied Playbook: Writing Practices of Student-Athletes, is forthcoming with University Press of Colorado.

Duane Roen

 

Co-Chair

2013-Present

Duane.Roen@asu.edu

 

Duane Roen is Professor of English at Arizona State University, where he serves as Dean of the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Dean of University College, and Vice Provost. He has written widely about writing instruction, writing across the curriculum, writing program administration, and academics as public intellectuals. His current projects focus on applications of the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing and on family history writing.