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Performance Operating Units and Meaning: Fusion Theory and Writing Pedagogy

Received: 24 November 2023    Accepted: 4 January 2024    Published: 13 March 2024
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Abstract

Performance Operating Units and Meaning. Many investigations of writing pedagogy and students’ writing performance have focused on gaining a better understanding of language production, commonly based on handbook dicta relate to sentence-level concerns. The easy availability of computers in the 1980s offered a new way to examine student writing and sentence-level concerns by studying “performance units” characterized by various writing behaviors, such as starting, stopping, substitutions, deletions, and revision. Given that revision is central to effective writing, computer analyses allowed researchers to investigate not only the frequency and types of student revisions but also the duration of their performance units. Various studies, however, have reported that the insights drawn from performance units research has not resulted in either better pedagogy or better student writing. Drawing on sociolinguist theory as well as Fusion Theory, this paper examines the value of performance units in writing pedagogy from a linguistic perspective that emphasizes the interactional and transactional nature of writing.

Published in Science Journal of Education (Volume 12, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjedu.20241202.12
Page(s) 25-31
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Fusion Theory, Intention, Intentionality, Interaction, Language Acquisition, Meaning, Performance Units, Pragmatics, Transaction

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Williams, J. D. (2024). Performance Operating Units and Meaning: Fusion Theory and Writing Pedagogy. Science Journal of Education, 12(2), 25-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20241202.12

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    Williams, J. D. Performance Operating Units and Meaning: Fusion Theory and Writing Pedagogy. Sci. J. Educ. 2024, 12(2), 25-31. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20241202.12

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    AMA Style

    Williams JD. Performance Operating Units and Meaning: Fusion Theory and Writing Pedagogy. Sci J Educ. 2024;12(2):25-31. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20241202.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjedu.20241202.12,
      author = {James Dale Williams},
      title = {Performance Operating Units and Meaning: Fusion Theory and Writing Pedagogy},
      journal = {Science Journal of Education},
      volume = {12},
      number = {2},
      pages = {25-31},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjedu.20241202.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20241202.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjedu.20241202.12},
      abstract = {Performance Operating Units and Meaning. Many investigations of writing pedagogy and students’ writing performance have focused on gaining a better understanding of language production, commonly based on handbook dicta relate to sentence-level concerns. The easy availability of computers in the 1980s offered a new way to examine student writing and sentence-level concerns by studying “performance units” characterized by various writing behaviors, such as starting, stopping, substitutions, deletions, and revision. Given that revision is central to effective writing, computer analyses allowed researchers to investigate not only the frequency and types of student revisions but also the duration of their performance units. Various studies, however, have reported that the insights drawn from performance units research has not resulted in either better pedagogy or better student writing. Drawing on sociolinguist theory as well as Fusion Theory, this paper examines the value of performance units in writing pedagogy from a linguistic perspective that emphasizes the interactional and transactional nature of writing.
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    }
    

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Author Information
  • Soka University, University Writing Program, Aliso Viejo, California, United States of America

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