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Janet Emig Annotated Bibliography Interviews

Interview

This interview ventures into many subjects of inquiry, including media, high school English, and the brain’s involvement in the writing process. When asked why writing is still taught in such a media-oriented society. Emig responds that writing is active and powerful. Watching television or reading does not lead to change like writing can. She states that “writing not only represents an opportunity for self-comprehension in a way that permits review, which is a form of learning, but it is transforming in what it can do within culture”(12). Emig also believes that one of the most important aspects of writing is the “mutually reinforcing cycle among the eye, hand, and brain that represents a particularly powerful style of learning”(12). She believes that teachers should see the writing of their students as they would literature, as pieces of writing that offer opportunities to learn and find meaning. Also, it would be beneficial for teachers to be visible models of writing, showing students that there is value in the act. The interview is ended with Emig’s advice to high school teachers, which is to “find pleasure yourself in writing, with my recognition that time is very difficult to come by”(145). As a former high school instructor, Emig recognizes the time constraints but also emphasizes that teachers of composition should find pleasure in their own writing.