Before the first assignment : a synoptic discussion of orality, literacy, and affect for the new Freshman English teacher

Three major influences on Freshman English are the fact of orality, the nature of literacy, and the role of affect. This thesis focuses on defining these three influences from various perspectives, on how the three interact as a complex network of forces in first-term college writing classes, and especially on how knowledge of this interaction can be useful to new Freshman English teachers before they meet with their first classes. The Dense Meaning Hypothesis is advanced as a means of increasing our knowledge of this complex of interactions as a complex. This hypothesis states that, since (1) writing about any given subject tends to improve learning in that subject, and (2) talking about writing can help to improve subsequent rewriting, then writing and talking about using language in correspondence journals and group writing conferences may increase learning about using language (where "using language" means writing, reading, speaking, listening, and thinking). A direct result of this improved learning may be a higher overall quality to students' writing in Freshman English. A research pedagogy designed to investigate the Dense Meaning Hypothesis through actual classroom experience is presented.