ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how different conceptions of writing affect experiences and practices of writing. It explores different conceptions of what it means to author, writing as a product and a process, the roles of emotion and cognition in composition, and the interconnections of skills and content in writing instruction. The chapter considers how writing, thinking, and identity construction are mutually influential, as well as how the social purposes of writing, inside and outside the classroom, affect how students and teachers perceive and use processes of writing. It also considers how the interplay of writing and thinking is influenced by how writing is taught and learned. Tracing the debate between teaching writing as a product and teaching writing as a process, it revealed connections between standardized assessment, formulaic writing, and the writing experiences of teachers educated with and through these practices. Multimodal approaches to writing, grounded in New Literacy Studies, offer a perspective of writing analogous to a process of design.
