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Linda Flower. Cognition, Context, and Theory Building.

Flower, Linda. "Cognition, Context, and Theory Building." CCC 40.3 (1989): 282-311.

Abstract:

In this article, the author tries to bridge the gap between cognition and context - whether the composing act is more influenced by either individual cognition and personal values or social forces and cultural context - by suggesting that the two are always interconnected and informing one another. The author claims that moving beyond the debate between the two camps would help scholars understand more deeply how writing happens and help teachers guide their students through the hurdles, both personal and social, they face while writing. She offers three principles that show that cognition and context not only influence each other, but construct one another: that context provides cues to the individual writer, that context is always mediated by the individual writer, and that a writer's purpose, though constrained and bounded, is always a meaningful rhetorical act. The article goes on to discuss observational research methodology and explain why observational research is essential in creating a theory that explains the intimate relationship between cognition and context.
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