SQR5

Lucero Chinchurreta
Alba Huerta
ENG 1320/1301.158
Instructor: Tran Phan
September 28, 2010
Writer-Base Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing
Linda Flower, “Writer-Base Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing”. College English, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Sep., 1979) pp. 19-37
This article is basically about writing and the” act of expressing what the person thinks”. One of the questions that the writers ask is why is writing often such a difficult thing to do? Also it says how the writers express what they think but usually is harder for the reader to understand or gain the same meaning. Later on explains how writers express their thoughts and also transform them into a more complex and describable ways so the reader can understand better what they are thinking or saying. Overall this article is an explanation of this under transformation mode of verbal expression. In the article explains the style of writing and the style of thoughts. “Writer-Base prose represents a major and familiar mode of expression which we all use form time to time.” No piece of writing will be a pure example they can be identify by the functions, style and features of structure. Also writer- base purse is also a practical concept that helps us teach. Is a way to intervene in the thinking process and it taps intuitive communication strategies that writers already have. In this article it shows that Linda Flowers did a study of the psychological theory of egocentrism and inner speech. The “egocentric speech, the child talks only about himself and takes no interest in his interlocutor.”

Question:
How would you identify a Writer-Based Prose and a Reader-Based Prose?
Response:
I identify a writer-based prose as the writer just writing what he or she is thinking. They just write down freely their own thoughts or ideas into paper and they don’t consider their audience. In order for writers to change this they should put themselves in the reader’s shoes. So they can be able to see a different point of view. They have to take into consideration how the reader sees the reading and if they are able to understand it. Reader-based prose is when the writer does take the reader into consideration. So the reading is more understandable to reader and the reader doesn’t get caught up in the reading without knowing what the reading is about. Overall I think writers should write reader-based prose when they write a story, not writer-based prose because the reading is for the readers not the writer. They should write writer-based prose only when they are writing in a journal or diary, because that is their personal space and they should be able to write their thoughts freely.