Teaching the Universe of Discourse

by James Moffett

Teaching the Universe of Discourse appears in virtually every bibliography dealing with language and learning and is widely read and cited throughout the English-teaching world.

Genres: Education, Writing

215 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moffett's preference for narrative is quite clear all but excluding exposition from his universe.

[Todd Scull · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like to dig into the philosophy of discourse, this is for you. This is the type of book that one is more likely to read because it is assigned than having been seduced into reading it by the provocative title or first page of powerful writing. With sentences like "For the same reasons, units on style, logic, and rhetoric can teach little more than abstract information if these things are not kept as functions of each other, and they can be kept so only in the ultimate context of somebody-talking-to-somebody-else-about-something"(5), one hopes it will become more clear as the ideas settle and connect. Thank God for the table of contents.

In my case, a respected colleague urged me to read it (it had been assigned to him). Unfortunately, the evangelical zeal of his enthusiasm only got me so far (page 5) until the reading of the turgid prose more resembled a death march through the jungles of the Philippines than an adventure into the world of discourse. I did finish. Barely.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, Moffett makes me head spin with phrases that require a lot of deep thinking. This is not a bad thing (indeed, it is very good) but it is a slow thing, a careful thing, and a time-consuming thing.

While I much prefer some of Moffett's later work, particularly Harmonic Learning: Keynoting School Reform, this is still good reading and a solid reminder of the foundations of communication. Particularly this was helpful in my research on how dramatization or role-playing is a foundational and highly effective teaching strategy (one I don't use enough).

[Jody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am taking a graduate course about the history of writing. This book is very interesting and pretty challenging reading. I'm not recommending it unless this subject is a particular interest to you.