Writing Theory versus Narrative Theory in College Writing

- Writing Theory versus Narrative Theory in College Writing -

 

Stories have always been literacy[읽고쓰는능력] indicators and basic elements of our human inheritance[유산](Elkins), but between 1966 and 1969 narratology[설화학] as a discipline began to develop a framwork for dissecting[해부] narratives into component parts for analyzing function and relationship(Jahn).

From a cognitive/psychological perspective, Bruner identifies the construction of narratives as part of the process of "folk psychology" involved in the attribution of motive and meaning for the establishment of identity and negotiation of social violations.

Folk narratives and narrative theory share practical underpinnings[받침대]; stories are purposeful translations of ordinary and extraordinary lives, retold[다시말해진] "to pass time[시간을 보내다], to convey information, to let someone know who we are (or at least who we want to be)."

Through storytelling we locate ourselves geographically in a place, a family, and a community. Similarly[유사하게], narrative theory provides a common shorthand[속기] for working within or between disciplines. Theory is liberating[해방], in contrast to constraining[강요], only when viewed in relationship to the "bigger picture."[as a whole] This is particularly[특히] true of academic writing theory, tasked with juggling the emphasis of writing to know, for social, personal, and exploratory[탐험, 탐색] purposes, and workplace writing as a means to an end[목적을 위한 수단](Ketter and Hunter).

 

Composition instruction draws from narrative theory, which distinguishes between the story (the what) and the discourse (the how), and composition theory, which further addresses process, as prewriting, drafting[입안, 선발], revising[정정], editing, and publishing.