Re: basic writers/software

["MULLIN ANNE" <MULLANNE@AD.isu.edu>]

The classic  study of unskilled composing process that shows in 
detail a basic writer spending a lot of time and energy at the word 
level is Sondra Perl's "Composing Process of Unskilled College 
Writers,"  which apeared in RTE, December of 1979 (pp 317-36).  Perl 
has the compose-aloud protocols all coded, etc. and interpreted.  
Much of the Flower and Hayes research also shows the various 
proportionate expenditures of time and effort on various concerns -- 
surface editing vs. drawing on longterm "storage" etc.  Some of the 
differences between "basic" and more "skilled" writers seem to 
center around how much of the bigger picture can be held in active 
working memory while the nitty gritty surface stuff is being attended 
to.  The more experience writers can fix spelling and commas while still 
pursuing a train of thought metaphorically and envisioning audience 
and, perhaps, coming up with the punch line for the last paragraph, 
etc. I find this whole area so fascinating!!!!