Ecocomposition

Annotated Bibliography

Cooper, M. M. (19986).The ecology of writing. College English, 48(4), 364– 375.

This essay is regarded as one of the essays that contributed to the foundation of ecocomposition. Cooper proposed an ‘ecological model of writing’ that raised awareness to the importance of environment. This is because writers influence and are influenced by the environment. She discusses how writing locates and involves writers in their environments which she termed as systems.

Dobrin. S. I. (2005). Saving place: An ecocomposition reader. Boston: McGraw Hill.

This book consists of a selection of fifty-six readings, which include essays, poems, comics and ads, written by various writers. These readings discuss a variety of topics related to environment, place, and readers’ relationships with such environs. It provides the students with the opportunity to be engaged in a variety of themes that would enhance their critical and analytical thinking and writing. It is introduced here as an example to EFL teachers.

Dorbin, S. I. & Weisser, C. R. (2002a).Natural Discourse: Toward ecocomposition. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

This book provides an explanation of combining ecology with composition. It starts with a long definition on page 6 and explanations how ecocomposition is not only related to nature writing but also to other sorts of writing that are related to environment. They specify that environment includes the physical environment as well as “constructed and even imagined places” (p. 6). The other chapter provided detailed explanations to interested teachers on ecocomposition and its application in the classroom.

Dorbin, S. I. & Weisser, C. R. (2002b). Breaking ground in ecocomposition: Exploring relations between discourse and environment. College English, 64(5), 566 – 589.

Dorbin and Weisser provided a summary showed the growth of ecocomposition. They also differentiated between ecocriticism and ecocomposition and showed how ecocriticism contributed in the growth of ecocomposition. They concluded their essay by stating that ecocomposition “has the potential to guide composition studies.”

Glotfelty, C. & Fromm, H. (1996). The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

This reader provides teachers with an overview about ecocriticism and sources to be used in their classroom. It covers a collection of selected texts that explore the relationship between literature and the environment. It also shows the reader how writing affects and is affected by the natural surroundings.

Henson, R. (2011). The rough guide to climate change (3^rd ed.). London: Rough Guides.

This guide is a comprehensible reader that discusses environmental changes. It is divided into five parts that lead the reader to a thorough understanding of climate change. The guide introduces the reader to how science looks at it the ongoing debate about it. It also shows the reader the symptoms, possible solutions, and how he/she could contribute in reducing the causes of climate change. In brief, it raises environmental consciousness.

Hothem, T. (2009). Suburban studies and college writing. Pedagogy: Critical Approach to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, 9(1), 35 – 59.

This essay discussed the connections between ecocomposition and suburban studies. He explained his theme-based course composition curricula while teaching first-year composition to confirm the significance of creating a writing course that is based on students’ experiences and encourage writing teachers to practice ecoliteracy.

Hurlbert, C. M. (2006). A place in which we stand. In P. Vandenberg, S. Hum, & J. Clary-Lemon (Eds.), Relations, locations, positions: Composition theory for writing teachers (pp. 353 - 356). Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English.

In this essay, Hurlbert criticizes the existing textbooks and how they offer “no-geography”and “no-place” to students (p. 353). He confessed that he had not used textbooks for undergraduate composition for more than a decade. He explained the procedures of his first-year composition course and provided examples of his students’ writings. He suggested that writing students do not need a textbook to write, they need assistance “from a qualified teacher,” guidance related to how they write effectively, and appropriate readings.

Ingram, A. M. (2001). Service learning and ecocomposition: Developing sustainable practices through inter-and extradisciplinarity. In C. Weisser & S. Dobrin (Eds.), Ecocomposition:Theoretical and pedagogical approaches (pp. 209 - 233). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Ingram’s essay can be considered as the most practical one in Weisser and Dobrin’s edited collection of essays. He discussed how he devoted a section of his first-year composition course to raise environmental consciousness. He started by discussing the theoretical concepts that focused his course, and then moved on with his discussion to how he applied ecocomposition in his class. A copy of his course syllabus and assignments were included which made following his discussion about application easier.

Killingsworth, M. J. (2005). From environmental rhetoric to ecocomposition and ecopoetics: finding a place for professional communication. Technical Communication Quarterly,14(4), 359 – 373.

In his essay, Killingsworth outlines the theoretical foundation for environmental studies pedagogy in the field of professional communication. He discussed two, what he termed as, slogans: ‘writing takes place’ and ‘localization begins at home.’ What was interested to me and made me decide to include in my manuscripts is his final section that is titled “What can we do” which provided answers to my question that I was reading to answer: how to apply ecocomposition in my EFL classroom? He suggested a number of points that would help raise awareness and “shift practice toward place-centered” (p. 370) every day teaching.

Long, M. C. (2001). Education and environmental literacy: Reflections on teaching ecocomposition in Keene State College’s Environmental House. In C. Weisser & S. Dobrin (Eds.), Ecocomposition: Theoretical and pedagogical approaches (pp. 131 - 145). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

In this essay, Long combines theory with practice while discussing how he taught his first-year composition course. He started by providing an overview about how educators moved toward environmental literacy. He also discussed the two versions of ecocomposition. Then he provided details about how he taught ecocomposition in Keene State College’s Environmental House.

Luce-Kapler, R. (2004). Writing, with, through, and beyond the text: An ecology of language. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

This book is a great example of how our writings help us understand the world around us. It shows how our experiences and identities influence and are influenced by writing. I chose to use the author’s experience with copying, planning, and teaching Nancie Atwell’s approach to elicit to myself and the readers how each teacher’s classroom environment differs from the others. Also, I used it to help promote the significance of preparing an ecocomposition course that suites our students environments.

Monsma, B. J. (2001). Writing home: Composition, campus ecology, and webbed environments. In C. Weisser& S. Dobrin (Eds.), Ecocomposition: Theoretical and pedagogical approaches (pp. 281 -290). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Monsma’s essay describes of his ecocomposition course and reflects on his experience. He sought to design a course that helps his students to become aware of their local environments. So, this essay is an explanation of how he engaged his students in their university’s campus and ecological writing to raise awareness to local environments. He also discusses how he engaged the students in the webbed environments to invite the outside readers to broaden environmental consciousness. He concludes his essay by providing an evaluation of his course.

Owens, D. (2001a). Sustainable composition. In C. Weisser & S. Dobrin (Eds.), Ecocomposition: Theoretical and pedagogical approaches (pp. 27 - 37). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

In this essay, Owens provided a summary of how to apply sustainability in the composition classroom with the “hope it will suffice to equate sustainability with living more simply, buying less stuff, conserving and preserving limited sources, and resisting the addictions fostered within our current consumer culture.” Here, the six tenets are briefly explained. He described briefly how he engaged students in: 1) place portraits, 2) designing Eutopia, 3) neighborhood histories, 4) oral history preservation project, 5) tribal testimonies, and 6) work stories.

Owens, D. (2001b). Composition and Sustainability: Teaching composition for a threatened world. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English.

As the title of the book proposes, Owens offers ways of integrating sustainability in composition courses. He provides convincing analysis of the roles of writing teachers/instructors now and in the future. He defined sustainability, offered six tenets, showed how to engage students, and provided examples of students’writings. He engaged students in: 1) place portraits, 2) designing Eutopia, 3) neighborhood histories, 4) oral history preservation project, 5) tribal testimonies, and 6) work stories. He, influentially, shows the significance of sustainability and calls for integrating it through the academic curriculum.

Slovic, S. H. & Dixon, T. F. (1993). Being in the world: An environmental reader for writers. New York: Macmillan Publishing company.

This book is a collection of readings that aims to raise students’ spirits and consciousness towards their surrounding world. Its purpose is to attract students to nature and reduce the threatening causes by focusing on how humans belong to their world and how to think about the environment. It also improves students’ critical thinking and writing skills.

Vandenberg, P., Hum, S., & J. Clary-Lemon (Eds.). (2006). Relations, locations, positions: Composition theory for writing teachers. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English.

This edited book is a collection of essays that build on process pedagogy and move on to post-process. It is divided into three ‘overlapping’ parts. Part one is devoted to theories of relation. In this section, writing is discussed as a result of relations with others that happen through conversations and negotiations. The second part is related to the theories of location. In this section, writing is discussed by how it is formed by the writers’ place or space. The final part is for theories of positions. In this final chapter, writing is discussed in view of how it reveals the writers’ identities by conveying their beliefs and values.

Weisser, C. R. & Dobrin, S. I. (Eds.). (2001). In C. Weisser & S. Dobrin (Eds.), Ecocomposition: Theoretical and pedagogical approaches (pp. 1 - 9). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

This essay serves as introduction to Weisser and Dobrin’s edited book Ecocomposition: Theoretical and pedagogical approaches. It lays the ground for the eighteen essays that follow it. It provides a brief definition for ecocomposition and a summary of each article by providing significant quotes help the reader get the major ideas of each article.

Weisser, C. R. & Dobrin, S. I. (Eds.). (2001). Ecocomposition: Theoretical and pedagogical approaches. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

This book consists of a collection of theoretical and practical essays that discuss ecocomposition. It encourages readers to be active on matters related to the environment by “bringing together” a varied group of noticeable “voices to discuss ecocomposition” p. 2. It “examines current trends in universities toward more environmentally sound work, explores the interactions between composition researches and offers possible pedagogies for the composition classroom.”

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