Abstract
Students often struggle to understand why the required writing course is important in their academic and non academic life. My project seeks to bring these two parts of students' lives together by urging writing teachers and students to consider a richer concept of the term "composition," one that includes the fundamental work of composing meaningful knowledge by assembling and reflecting on raw experiences. Dewey's term "an experience" clarifies how students constitute knowledge from their experiences, and Burke's methodological concept of form offers students a model for writing that accommodates that Deweyian sort of learning. Building off of these aesthetic theories, I suggest that significant learning experiences must be composed and organized through critical reflection.
Degree
MA
College and Department
Humanities; English
Rights
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Blau, Aimee E., "Composing 'An Experience': Experiential Aesthetics in First-Year Writing" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 3209.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3209
Date Submitted
2012-04-27
Document Type
Thesis
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd5221
Keywords
First-year composition, Kenneth Burke, John Dewey, Writing to Learn, experience, reflection
Language
English