Theories of Process

Process Theory

        When looking over the writings of Berlin, Faigley, and Fulkerson I came across the process theory. Mainly in Faigley's article, but the principles he brings to the front apply across the board. In essence, the competing theories approach the teaching of composition from different angles and how they are classified is decided on which parts of the process they focus on. For Faigley, he tries to work out the writing process using these parts as an "organic" whole. I would have to agree with Faigley in the sense that the writing process is organic. It comes from within the writer and the process itself is unique to the individual. The process theories that try to classify the theory in to some "standard" process are wholly unusable. The teachers who stress the format and the process tend to push away the student more than invite them in to the process itself. It becomes an action of tapping in to one's own self and composing rather than following some strict process to produce "good writing" every single time. 

        The other thing Faigley notes is that when people look at the process they tend to look at it as historically "static". Faigley, and myself, believe that the process of writing is "dynamic". There are too many social, economic, and historical factors that change the process of writing radically from one generation to the next. Can on process be prevalent in one generation and gone in the next? Possibly. However, it may still live on through others who've adopted it because it works for them and they've put their own spin on it. Composing good writing does not come from some strict writing template. There is no "right" or "wrong" process to composing a document or essay. It is finding that inner writer, that "organicness", that makes a piece of "good writing".