The writing dance: A functionalistic inquiry into the role of writing in the enculturation processes of four first-year doctoral students in a summer intensive program in rhetoric and linguistics

In the field of composition, the notion of disciplinary enculturation has focused on the role that writing plays in the enculturation process. Functionalistic studies of writing, however, have not focused on doctoral students. This study redresses the balance by focusing on the functions of writing of four PhD students in their first summer semester of doctoral studies. The research investigates Jolliffe's (1984) claim that functions of writing in a discipline are dependent upon systemic elements. Kuhn's and Toulmin's theoretical frameworks for enculturation are adopted and assessed for applicability to this beginning stage of enculturation for doctoral students in Westland University's Rhetoric and Linguistics program.;The research method was inductive analysis through the triangulation of data. Inferences were drawn from thematic matrices taken from the coded data. A model was formed of the functions of writing in this enculturation environment.;Writing functions emerged, in a principled yet creative way, from complex negotiations involving systemic and non-systemic elements. Functions of writing were not solely dependent upon systemic elements, but upon negotiations, in which non-systemic elements often dominated. Writing resembled a dance, taking place with a set choreography, dancers, and a stage. Writing did not occur on all stages, and if the venue was "wrong," the performance could be cancelled. The participants's own paradigms for learning and enculturation formed a personal ecological paradigm that governed all negotiation processes and controlled the choreography for the writing dance.;Conflicts among systemic and non-systemic elements produced functions of writing perceived by the participants as negative. Since enculturation is a pedagogic process, perceived negative functions of writing can be replaced via creative syllabi in which participants develop their own positive functions of writing, thus enabling the system's philosophy of writing to be fulfilled in individualized ways.;Kuhn's and Toulmin's models of enculturation were too powerful to account for the participants' enculturation at this first-semester doctoral level.