Marc,
Heather Graves and I have co-edited a collection of essays--Writing Centres,
Writing Seminars, Writing Culture: Writing Instruction in Anglo-Canadian
Universities-- that would provide some answers to this question. It is in the
final editing stages and will be published later this fall. We'll send a message
to this list when it is available.
In the meantime, you might want to look up Henry Hubert's book, Harmonious
Perfection: The Development of English Studies in Nineteenth-Century
Anglo-Canadian Colleges (East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 1994), Nan Johnson's
Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric in North America (Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP,
1991), or my Writing Instruction in Canadian Universities (Winnipeg: Inkshed
Publications, 1994). Kevin Brooks has published several articles of interest,
though I don't have the citations at hand, and many others have published
articles detailing current practices/issues at a specific institution.
As for a brief explanation, well, when the curriculum shifted away from
rhetorical study in the latter half of the 19th century, writing was subsumed
under the study of literature. The belles-lettres approach (derived from Hugh
Blair and others) located writing in English departments, and in the post WW2
era when university enrollments in North America exploded, Canadian academics in
English departments largely resisted the "service" aspect of teaching writing to
the new demographic these students presented. That and the enormous cost of
compulsory first-year writing programs pretty much meant that what was done in
the US would not be replicated here.
Roger Graves
----- Original Message -----
From: marc christensen <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, October 24, 2005 2:11 pm
Subject: Re: Composition and Canada
> > Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 08:51:53 -0400
> > From: "Catherine F. Schryer" <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: graduate programs in Canada
> >
> > Hello
> > There are not a lot of programs in Canada, and they take a
> > different kind of
> > path then the programs in the States, mostly because of an
> absence
> > of the
> > traditional composition program as it exists in the States.
> >
>
> Can anyone briefly explain how this came to be, or its consequences?
>
> Are there resources available (books, journal articles, white
> papers,
> etc.) which would explain why Comp never took hold here as a
> discipline?
> I'm interested both in historical reasons and today's consequences
> insofar as it seems Lit instructors usually end up teaching comp,
> especially at the college level.
>
> Cheers,
> -marc christensen
> victoria, bc
>
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>
Dr. Roger Graves
Director of Writing and Technical & Professional Communication
University of Western Ontario
London, ON N6A 3K7
519.661.2111x85785
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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
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http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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