English 690: Writing Center Theory

Coogan asserts that early writing centers were motivated by an “urge to contain . . . functional literacy” (xiv), and that contemporary writing centers have not been able to change this identity because it is given to them—by universities, English departments, corporations, politicians, and the public—rather than chosen by them. If this is true and if this condition prevails, he continues, the disconnect between the outsider perception of what should happen in writing centers and the insider perception of what should happens in writing centers cannot be overcome by more carefully crafted public relations campaign (xvi). That is, however, what his book seems to be. It is an effort to demonstrate that a writing center that is aligned with prevailing composition theory will not look like a remedial center for the functionally illiterate. Such a writing center would also, incidentally, not look like the expressivist writing centers that emerged in the 1960’s—but given that writing center theory seems to have moved away from that model this seems to be beside the point. I wonder, however, whether naming the forces that contribute to misunderstanding—and offering an alternative model—satisfactorily addresses those forces.