From the Personal to the Public: Conceptions of Creative Writing in Higher Education Author(s): Gregory Light Source: Higher

Education, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Mar., 2002), pp. 257-276 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3447545 . Accessed: 17/10/2011 06:29
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Higher Education 43: 257-276, 2002.

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' ? 2002 KluwerAcademicPublishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

From the personal to the public: Conceptions of creative writing in higher education LIGHT GREGORY
Searle CenterFor TeachingExcellence,NorthwesternUniversity,USA

researchon studentlearningin higher educationhas focused on a Abstract. Much qualitative of of distinctionbetweensurfacereproduction 'knowledge'and a deeper understanding it. key of This distinctionhas also been foundin researchon studentpracticeandunderstanding essay and discursivewriting.This paperreportson results from a study of 40 interviewsconducted with studentstaking creative writing courses at three differenthigher Pducationinstitutions in the United Kingdom.Interviewswere conducted with students of various levels of experience and expertise in creative writing and included students taking a single undergraduate module in creative writing and students enrolled in a highly selective Masters programin CreativeWriting.The interviewsfocused on the students' conceptions and practiceof creative writing while taking their respective courses. The analysis of the interview transcripts revealed an underlyingsubjectivistepistemology in the students' general assumptionsand perceptionof the natureof CreativeWritingvis-a-vis otherforms of academicwriting.Linked to this epistemology,the analysisdisclosed a typology of four differingconceptionsof student and understanding practiceof creativewriting within two overall transcribingandcomposing categoriesof conception.These categories closely resemble student'sconceptionsof writing practicesin otherdisciplines. Keywords: academicliteracy,conceptions of learning,conceptions of writing,creative writing, personalexperience,phenomenography, public expression,readership,studentlearning

Introduction Much recentresearchon the experienceof studentlearningin highereducation has focused on a key distinction between surface reproductionof of 'knowledge' and a deeper understanding it (Martonet al. 1997). While the distinctionhas been interpretedand described in ways and in language that are distinctive to particularlearning contexts, it has been remarkably consistent across a wide range of academic disciplines and in a wide range of cultural contexts. Indeed, this general distinction has emerged within researchexamininga varietyof conceptualframeworks: learningapproaches (Martonand Saljo 1984; Ramsden 1992; Entwistle 1987), learningorientations (Richardson1995) and learningoutcomes (Dahgren 1997; Lybeckand Marton 1988). A particularly fertile area of research has been the identifi-

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cation and explorationof learning in terms of student 'conceptions' of an area of study (Saljo 1979; Marton et al. 1992; Dahlgren 1997; Entwistle and Entwistle 1992, 1997; Martonet al. 1997). This researchalso identified a range of distinctive types of conception which can be divided into two categories:reproducingconceptions in which the student "uses meaning", memorises and reproducesmaterial,and transforming conceptions in which the student"makesmeaning",understands transformsmaterial. and This distinction is also mirroredin an array of research on discursive writing. Bereiterand Scardamalia(1987) reporton a range of researchfindings contrastingtelling and transformingmodels of the process of writing. They define the main differencebetween the two models as lying in the relationshipof the contentproblem-spacein which problemsof belief andknowledge are workedout, and the rhetoricalproblem-spacein which problemsof achievingthe goals of the compositionare dealt with: The distinctivecapabilitiesof the knowledge-transforming model lie in formulatingand solving problems and doing so in ways that allow a two-way interactionbetween continuously developing knowledge and continuouslydevelopingtext. (Bereiterand Scradamalia1987, p. 12) Hounsell (1987), moreover,identifiedthree sub-component"core elements" of essay-writing conceptions: data (the subject matter or material of the of essay); organisation(the structuring the essay material)and interpretation (the meaning given to the materialby the students) (p. 110). They provide the basis for two general groupsof essay-writingconception: interpretative, "cogency" (psychology) and "argument" (history); and non-interpretative, "relevance"(psychology) and "arrangement" (history). The former group describes"a concernwith the makingof meaning:an essay is seen as a mode of discoursethroughwhich one makes sense of a topic or problemin a way which is individuallydistinctive"(Hounsell 1987, p. 112). Cogency/argument conceptions emphasise the "interpretation" sub-componentunderwhich the two other sub-componentsare subsumed and integrated.In the relevance/ arrangementgroup of conceptions, on the other hand, a concern for "the establishmentof meaning is absent"and the student'sown "ideas, thoughts and opinions ... are seen as 'value added' ratherthan as the essay's main justification" (p. 112). The data and structureof the essay are not intebut gratedwith interpretation, are, so to speak, floatingfree, derived"almost from the materialand structuresin lectures and books. Essay incidentally" writing"is seen unreflectivelyand mechanically"(Hounsell 1984, p. 121). More recently Campbell et al. (1998) examined the relationshipof the conceptualstructureof essays using the SOLO taxonomy (Biggs and Collis 1982) with studentaccounts of essay writing. They found similar categories

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of 'underlyingconceptualisations'(p. 466) at every stage of the writing process.

... compared to students writing essays with simple conceptual struc-

tures, students writing more complex essays engaged in processes ratherthan "knowledgetelling", used organisational of reconstruction for integratingtheir notes accordingto topics or themes, built systems ratherthan "information" when structuringand drafting "arguments"
their essays ... (pp. 466-467)

The currentstudy was designed to take a similar approachto investigating studentconceptionsand understandings creativewriting in higher educaof tion. In this respectthe studywas conceived to examine a kindof writingthat has often been conceptualisedas qualitativelydifferentfrom essay writing. Britton(1970), for example,differentiates betweenthreematuremodes (functions) of writing which may be regarded as lying on a continuum, with (communicative) 'expressive'writingin the middleflankedby 'transactional' writing at one end and 'poetic' writing at the other. It is a developmental continuum, the key dynamic of which lies in a movement out from its 'expressive' centre. In both directionsthis is a "move ... from an intimate to a more public audience"(p. 83): from expressive self to public other.Of central importancehere, however, is the differing nature of the expressive self in the two roles. As transactional writingmoves out to meet the demands of audience, it increasingly "excludes the personal, self-revealingfeatures" (p. 83). Moving out towards'audience'in the poetic writing,however,leads to a focus on preciselythese personalfeatures:"theembodimentby the writer of feelings andbeliefs becomes paramount, what is includedin the utterand ance may be highly personal"(p. 83). Emig (1971) makesa similardistinction in her work, agreeing, "all student writing emanates from an expressive impulse and that they then bifurcateinto two major modes" (p. 37) which she calls "extensive"and "reflexive".Extensive writing is active, focusing on the writer's interactionwith his/her situation while reflexive writing is focusing on what the experiencemeans for the self. contemplative, This qualitativedistinction has to some degree been noted in its relationship with higher education.Despite the growth of creative writing as a formal discipline in higher education in Britain and even longer presence in the United States, creativewriting remains ratherunchartedterritory.As
Bradbury (1992) writes, "... Creative Writing has come to prosper. Yet one

curiousfeatureof its growthis that ... it has generatedvery little in the way of self analysis or theoreticalpublication".This is, to a large extent, due to the natureof the discipline. Historically,it has not been regardedas suitable for study in higher education,let alone an object of theoreticalstudy. Intel-

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lectual and academicresistanceto its move into universitieshas traditionally surfacedin the form of argumentsthat 'creativewriting' is not 'serious' and encouragesself-indulgence.At the root of this resistanceare issues of literary andaestheticvalue and the assumptionthatcreativetalentis personal,natural and instinctive:something that is neither taughtnor learned nor adequately assessed (Freeman1987; Gladwin 1987; Lawson 1990; Light 1995a). It should be noted that while "creativewriting"has come to describethe practiceof writing in particulargenres - mainly poetry,fiction and dramait has not come to describe the practice of writing 'creatively'. This paper does not focus on creativity,butratheron studentconceptionsand experience of a distinctivepractice,which studentsin higher educationare increasingly engaged. It presents a structural typology of conceptions of creative writing in termsof their definingfeatures.1 Method The studydrawson the analysis of interviewaccountsof 40 CreativeWriting studentsselected from threewriting courses at three British institutions.The choice of course was based on two categoriesof criteria.In orderto minimise the risk of including a narrowrange of creativewriting studentin the study, the first criteriaemployed was "criteriaof variation",which Patton (1980)
refers to as a "maximum variation sampling strategy" (p. 102). It included

three different kinds of institutions (old university, new university, institute of adult education);different degree structures(graduate/fullprogram, module, non-degree/single course); different course undergraduate/single structures(workshop approaches, exercise-based, mixture); differing level of participation (full-time, part-time);varyinggenres (fiction, script writing, poetry) and varying experience of 'being a writer'. This latter criterionis not based on precise categories of quality or quantityof writing, but rather on general descriptions of writing experience and interest. The distinction is most acute between the post-graduatecourse where student selection is highly competitiveand specificallymade with referenceto the studentalready course which cateredto a wide range 'being a writer',and the undergraduate of writing experience and was open to all students,irrespectiveof whether they had writtenanything. In contrast,the second category of criteria, "criteriaof similarity",was concerned with including courses that could be described as teaching the same subject at the same time with a minimum number of students. It includedcourses reflectingsimilarcourse orientations,inclusion of a similar genre (fiction); access to at least ten students and offered during the same academicyear.The firstcriterion,course orientation,concerns:

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... the relationshipof the particularwriting course to the activity of writingitself... (and) may be referredto as eitherextrinsicor intrinsic. in In the formercase, writingis primarilyregardedas an instrument the study of literature(or anotherdiscipline), while in the latter case; the course has as its primarygoal the developmentof (creative)writingas a practicein and of itself. (Light 1992, pp. 10-11) Both sets of criteriawere important.In the first case, the aim was to ensure that the sample of studentsand their experience of creative writing took in as broada range as possible. The second set of criteriawas meant to ensure that despite the diversity of courses, and level of engagement,the students were all engagedin a writingpracticefocused on the developmentof creative 50% of writing as its primaryobjective. The authorattendedapproximately familiarwith the the teaching sessions of the three courses, becoming very and teachers,students,curriculum pedagogic practicesof the courses. All the students who took part in the study willingly agreed to do an interviewupon request.The authorinterviewedeach of them soon after they completed their course. The interview sample was constructedso as to be of representative the overall sample that took the three courses. The initial included all of the studentsin both the graduate(Masters)and the nonpool degree courses to be matchedby a balancedselection of the 64 studentsfrom course. All of those in the non-degreecourse (11 students) the undergraduate were interviewed.Three studentsin the graduatecourse were unavailableat the end of the course for unforeseen circumstances:10 studentswere interviewed. Two-thirds the final class (24 of 36 students)of the undergraduate of course were willing to be interviewed. A final selection was based on six criteria:gender balance, age balance, ethnic/racialbalance, cross section of degree schemes, cross section of interest in/seriousness toward the course andbalancedrepresentation from the threeseminargroupsin the course.The selection was made after consultationwith the course teachersand analysis of registrydata.The final selection consisted of 19 students:11 studentsfrom the volunteersin the final class and 8 students who did not attendthe final class but agreedto be interviewedupon request. Those takingpartin the studyreflecteda diverse social tapestryof people: rangingin age from 19 to 71 years old and spanninga broadsection of occupational experience as well as ethnic and national backgrounds.Their prior education extended from school leaver to post-graduateand their previous writingexperiencestretchedfrom almost nil to publishednovelists. For their interview they were all asked to bring two compositions that they felt best the the represented way they write and/orwhich represented work they wrote on the course. The interviews were semi-structured, questions deliberately being left open to permitinteractivediscussion and exchange on the various

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areas of writing raised. The same schedule was used for all the students to althoughtherewere minoradaptations reflectvariationsin the courses. The interview schedule was structuredto move from the concrete to the general. Initial questionswere concernedwith their background,choice, expectations and experience of the course. These led into a more specific phase of questions concerningtheir actual writing activities with respect to particular compositions:genesis, content,detailsof the writingprocess,influences, fellow studentand teacherfeedback,personalresponse to the finished text, differenceswith otherforms of writing.The finalphase focused more on their general reflections/views/conceptions their experience of writing in of the highereducationcontext.It also includedquestionson the writingprocess and the text, as above, but asked for more general views of creativewriting: what if anythingis special or essential to creativewriting?;have their ideas about creativewriting changedduringthe course?;what was the main thing they learnedabout writingfrom the course?;what did they think their main strengthsand weaknesses as a writer were?; what were they looking for in teacheror class feedback? All interviewswere tape-recorded, and transcribed analysedby the author. Interviewlength rangedfrom lhr:20min to lhr:40min. The length and range of the interviews posed significant challenges for analysis, especially the identificationof the relevantdata (utterances)that are of particularinterest to the question being investigated.A deep analysis of five fully transcribed initial interviews was undertakento establish a preliminary 'map' of the phenomenaexperiencedby the students.This 'map', while open to change, subsequentlyproved invaluablein providing a workable method for simply identifying particular phenomenadescribed by the diverse utterancesof the differentinterviews. The ensuing analysis of the interviews was essentially a phenomenographic analysis, as describedby Marton(1988). The mappedout 'utterances'were processedin threephases:interpreting coding them; and them (in terms of their particularmeaning in the interview) on categorising the basis of their similarities;and differentiatingthem (as categories) from one anotherin termsof theirdifferences. In analysingthe interviews,the unit of analysis was the student'sconception of creative writing which not only embraces the way in which students understand creativewriting,butis also groundedin theirown active, concrete practice:in the activityand contentof writing.In this sense, student'conceptions' are activity bound. Hounsell (1984) refers to such conceptions as 'action conceptions' and describes them as encompassing "both the ways in which students define the activity and the ways in which they go about essays and perceive essay content"(p. 74). Analysis of the interviewsmeant checking and cross-checkingutterancesfrom differentareasof the transcripts againstone anotherto ensureconsistency of meaning and categorisation.

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Inevitablya degreeof erroris involvedin this kind of qualitativeanalysis: due to personal concerns, interests and focus subjective misinterpretation with respect to the data, as well as errorsin logical analysis. Logical errors of analysis have been reduced through a careful process of checking and cross-checking the categories as they emerged against the data. Personal concerns,interestsand focus, of course, play an importantrole in the nature of the research situation being described, a situation which is determined as much by the rich meanings inherent in both the theoretical perspectives this researchertakes (critically) and the concrete researchsituationof creativewriting courses sharedwith the respondents.Besides the important issues of logical analysis, the validity of the concepts and categoriesestablished depends partly on the researchersability to share and understand the respondents'meanings as well as "partlyon the match with previous researchfindings, and partly on the extent to which the categories provide an accuratedescriptionof 'recognisablereality'" (Entwistle and Entwistle 1992, pp. 5-6). The analysis yielded categories of descriptionsof students' conceptions or materialunderstanding creativewriting.These conceptions,it shouldbe of arenot consideredto be independent to stressed, cognitive entities but,rather, be socially constitutedcategoriesof materialunderstanding, poised between the private and public and groundedin the encounter of the student with the specific academic situation. They are subject to change depending on numerouscontextualissues (Light 1996). Results The principalresultsof the study presentedin this paper will concentrateon the typology of distinctiveconceptionsor materialunderstandings creative of that emergedfrom the analysis of the interview data. In particular it writing will focus on the structural perspectiveof these conceptions and the nature of the main featuredefining them. The study also disclosed both compositional and situational perspectives of the conceptions. The compositional perspectiveconcerneddetailed studentexperiencesof the range of activities associatedwith the actualwritingprocess - from the genesis of a composition to the completed text. The situationalperspectiveconcerned the impact on student conceptionsof studentexperiences of contextual and social factors the characterising highereducationcreativewritingsituation.2 Before proceedingto a descriptionof the structuraltypology of creative writing conceptions, it is essential to frame the principal results presented here in terms of a broaderfinding emerging from the study: a clear 'thematic convergence'in the students'assumptionsabout and perceptionsof the

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nature of Creative Writing. Student accounts were remarkablyuniform in viewing creativewritingas both qualitativelyunique and differentfrom other forms of writing.These assumptionsmost often emergedin contrastto other forms of writingin which they engaged such as essay or journalisticwriting. In both sets of results presentedbelow, the meanings of the categories and descriptionspresentedare illustratedthroughthe comments of the students themselves. Studentassumptions/perceptions creative writing of In all of the student's accounts, creative writing is associated with the 'personal',particularly personalor privateexperience.In this thereappearsto be a consistencyof 'feeling', a consistencywhich assumeswhatBerlin (1987) describesas a subjectivistor expressionistrhetoric,one where "thatwhich the writeris trying to express ... is the productof a privateand personalvision" (p. 74). Such a rhetoric"considerswritingto be an art,the originalexpression of a uniquevision" (p. 148). I'd like to be able to writeessays as such um andget thatsame emotional satisfactionbut I'd have to have, I'd have to want to say something. I'd
have to have something to say (...) something personal to say about

whatever.(Amanda)
(Creative writing) ... it's more personal ... seems more personal ... I'm

a bit selfish and a bit more self indulgent ... you have more interestin it. (Jay) In this thereare thingsthatarepersonalexperiencesto me, so you know, it would be layers of feeling thatyou don't do in an essay. (Vicky)
Essays have to include more reading ... comments about other people, when this (creative writing) ... it's your own writing ... it's from you.

(Michael) Relatedto this idea of creativewritingdrawingmore fully upon the personal, most studentson all threecourses also perceivedcreativewritingas providing them with more freedom. Once again, this was often in contrast to their perceptions of discursive writing restrictingfreedom. It is a quality which Bishop (1994) refers to as "themyth of free creativity". (Creativewriting)is a much freersort of writing (thanessay writing) ... something that stems from your own ideas, your own experience, what you experience in life. (Sarah) I've got a free hand with (creativewriting). I make it do what I want it to do. I'm not, what's it, restricted... everybody has a certainlevel of experiencethat you can make into something. (Delora)

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I'm far moreemotionallyengaged with writingfiction (.. .) it feels more

exposed. (...) With the subject matter I feel less restricted with the

creativewriting.(Paul)
I can do what I want ... more freedom but also ... because it's just

a differentform. ... In essays you're picking up comments that other people have made ... you've got to be very accuratewith quotes. (Colin 22) (Creativewriting)has a higher ability to make people understand why act andfeel in a certainway ... because it's not restrained the people by facts. (Austin) It is definitelya freedom.That'sthe way I look on writing,it's an escape
(...) a coming to terms with, you know, nasty, horrible things (...) in

your life, in, in, in the way the world is. (Felix) ... one (creative writing) is kind of like mind freeing, freeing your imagination,creatingempty spaces which then get filled up with something absolutelynew andyou don't know where the hell it's come from, right. And the otherone (essay writing) is sort of shoving a hell of a lot of noise in your head and wantingto scream.(Leila) The general assumptionof writing,here, is that, in contrastto essay writing, creative writing provides a writing opportunitywhich permits students to tap into a much more private,personal and emotional reality for their ideas and material.It is characterised freedom from the non-personal,external by demands of facts and other people's ideas, comments and forms. For the most part it is concerned with original, creative, personal experiences and feelings that can be discoveredby the self and which provide the basis for their material.Even in those accounts that do not make a clear distinction between creativeand discursivewriting, the emphasis is still subjectivist.In such cases, discursivewritingis also viewed as very personal: I can make an essay as personal as I like, if I have a particularand personalresponseto the question. (Andrea) I mean I thinkjournalismcan be creative;featurejournalismcertainly uh involves a certainamountof creativity.I think short story writingis just creativityon a differentlevel, or in a, a differentdimension.It's all creativity.(Sonya) The above utterances illustratea generalconvergencethatwas foundin all the student assumptions/perceptions creative writing, a convergencecutting of across the diversityof backgroundsand courses. It is, moreover,a convergence that providesthe conceptualground on which studentconceptionsof creativewritingrests.The issue here is not the validity of these assumptions

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but ratherthe 'radical' natureof its subjectivistepistemology coupled with what appearsto be its general and widespreadacceptance. Studentconceptionsof creative writing While the epistemologicalconvergencedescribedabove was widely shared,it does not describethe studentconceptionsthatemerged.It providesa foundation upon which and from which two contrastingcategories of conceptions, transcribingand composing, can be understood.Together,these categories describe a typology of distinctivetypes of studentconception. Each conception is, moreover,described in terms of a defining feature of conception that emerged from the analysis of the data: reader awareness. This section presentsthe main featureand its relationshipto conception. Reader awareness:The definingfeature The central feature of conceptions of creative writing, that by which the main two categoriesof conceptionare delineatedis describedhere as 'reader awareness'. Reader awareness has two dimensions: the first concerns the readerin what Bakhtin(1986) calls the "addressivity" writing:that aspect of of being "directedto someone", an "addressee",who may vary from "an immediateparticipant-locutor an everydaydialogue (to) ... an indefinite, in unconcretizedother" (p. 95). This dimension distinguishes between two The first is qualitativelydifferent ways of regardingthe addressee/reader. a detached awareness in which the writer 'uses' (reproduces)the personal meanings of his/her material with respect to the reader in the activity of it. writing.The focus is on the material,on transcribing I don't know how to do that, writing for a reader.So what I do is I play games with myself and think that maybe if you do something which is honest... it will carryto the reader.(Leila) The student-writer regardsthe reader'sunderstanding theirmaterialas here of "detached" fromtheirown writingactivity.The second way of understanding the addressee/reader may be describedas an integratedawareness. Here the writer 'makes' (transforms)the personal meanings of his/her materialwith respect to the readerin the activity of writing.The focus is on the writing,on composing. I'm awareof trying to make sense to otherpeople, yet at the same time ... I thinkI make the readerwork. (Carol) Here, the student-writeris concerned to "integrate"the reader's understandingof their materialduring the activities of writing. Furtherexamples

OF WRITING CONCEPTIONS CREATIVE Table 1. Conceptions of creative writing (categories, types and features) Conception Categories (Types) Transcribing Type I: Releasing Type II: Documenting Composing Type III:Narrating Type IV: Critiquing Defining feature Readerawareness Addressivity Readership

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Detached Detached Integrated Integrated

Dissenting Assenting Assenting Dissenting

of this core distinctionare provided in the richer contexts of the particular conceptionsdescribedbelow: indeed it will be centralto them. The second dimensionof reader awareness recognises that readersexist in concrete,social situations,using specific culturalforms: they are partof a readership.Williams (1977) writes of such forms thatthey are "thecommon property... of writersand audiences or readers,before any communicative composition can occur" (pp. 187-188). The distinction here is whether or not (i) the student "assentsto" or (ii) "dissentsfrom" the prevailingforms In (discourse)embracedby his/herreadership. the formerthe studentaccepts the prevailinggenres and forms of the course (or market): One thing the course has taught me is to be much more aware of the marketyou're writingfor. (Sarah) There were, however,a numberof instances in which the dissent from such forms was regardedas important creativewriting: to I wouldn't say something for the sake of it. Even if it's socially unaccepted,I'd still write it, if that is what is coming out. (Joel) Again, furtherexamples of these dimensions are providedbelow. As shown in Table 1, these two dimensions delineate the four main types of conception which emergedfromthe accountsof creativewritingstudents:releasing, documenting, narratingand critiquing.3

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TypeI: Releasing This conception describes student-writerswho, while recognising readers sharetheirlanguage,nevertheless,view their own writingas a fully personal, private 'creation'. Creative writing is focused almost exclusively on the material and often regarded as being therapeutic and for the writer. It 'works' if it is released and provides a kind of personal 'therapy' and or self-knowledge.
But I mean I write for personal reasons, for me (...) to grapple with

the me, to try and clarify the me. I mean a lot of things happen and as part of the confusion, you can't get it straightin your head, and that's uncomfortable,so you try and grapplewith it, you try and straightenit out and you try and externaliseit... I mean somebody might like my writing, somebodymighthate it. (Joel) In some senses it's (creativewriting) an exorcism, in other senses it's just for money ... (it's) trying to express a sense of yourself, you in relationto everythingelse, tryingto create your own history.I think it's more relatingyourselfandtryingto find yourself in the world and trying to find any meaningfor yourself, whetherthere's any actually,if there's any purposeto your existing, questioningthis. (Scott) I'm sure that most people who write, who have any interestin writing cannothandlethe idea of sharing,sharingtheirideas. If they do it's very superficial.(Scott) Here the student-writer'dissents' from the prevailing readership 'forms' and simply 'releases' his/her or materialin personal forms (e.g. 'streamof or consciousness'). Indeed,viewing writing any other way (transforming reit with respect to a reader)is often seen as a kind of betrayalof self creating and artisticintegrity.Thereis no apparent concern with deeperconventionsof character, story,descriptionotherthan the personal grapplingwith the probthe lems and clarificationof the material.The issue of the readerappreciating is entirelyincidental.Awarenessand concern for readeris 'detached' writing from the writer'sexpressionof theirmaterialin the activity of writing. TypeII: Documenting In this conception the writeraccepts that he/she is writing for a readerbut, again, does so primarilyat the level of their material. The writer wants to capturean experience,a scene, an idea, and transcribeor documentit the way he or she sees it or feels it. How the readerwill read it is incidental,hopeful, a situation detached and over which they feel they have little control. The writer'sconcern is mainly with surface conventions - spelling, punctuation,

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grammar and 'works' if the material(experiences/ideasetc.) is interesting, communicatedand/or meets the course requirements:i.e. primarilyat the level of theirmaterial.Insofaras they acceptthe reader'srole, they also accept readershipforms, althoughthe range here is often limited to very general genre forms (fiction, poetry,drama)and those takenfrom course exercises. (the most important thing) was capturingthe experience,of actuallynot losing that time ... just puttingit down andjust keeping it for myself, hopefully as well I'm makinga poem which would say, perhaps,something to somebody else ... (Michael)

I know it (the play) and myself have our limitations and it's sort of rubbishbecause it's shortandbecause it was done to orderif you like. I mean here we're given an exercise so I decided to do this. (Neil) ... to be honest I'm never really aware of the structure,I tend not to think about these things in, in terms of form ... I'm not trying to be clever with the form. The form is a way of getting across the truth.(... The main concern) is just trying to reach out and touch somebody and just say, you know,hey, how aboutthis? Interviewer:Towhom? Well to myself firstof all, so thatI actuallythink,yes, that'strue,yes that'swhat I wantedto say, and then should anybodyreadit. (Julie) In an extended version of this type of conception, there is an attemptto integratethe reader,but only as a more specific 'consumer' requiringmore specified, often marketorientedforms. Generalforms of fiction, poetry and drama are not sufficient: more specific (and 'reproducible') forms were requiredfor 'carrying'the meaningof ones material. I have to get an idea of somethingI want to write about ... it's always something that I see or something that I've experienced. And then, having got that, I then have to think about what I'm going to do with it and this is wherethis course has been very good to me ... I then start
to think about the market ... (Sarah)

Frequently allied with this concern is an intellectual recognition of the of comprehensionrequirements the reader coupled with an inability (often within to associatedwith conflictandfrustration) integratethese requirements the activityof writing. ... therewas a sortof dual attitudetowardsum how much I, I supposeI do tailorit to the audience.I mean I was thinkingaboutwantingit to be comprehensibleand, and to express what I wanted to, but also ... there in was a sortof stubbornness saying well this is what I wantto writeand, and you'll just have to understand that,you'll have to bearit. (Martin)

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Composingconceptions TypeIII: Narrating Narratingconceptions are characterised the recognitionof a new way of by understanding integratingmaterialand readerwithin the practiceof writing, writing. ... writingisn't just somethingthathits you like a thunderbolt and you suddenly get this inspirationand scribble something down ... it's an activity that you can practise and get better at. It's a skill. (...) being able to use a structure to impose a structureon myself, on my ideas. (Holly) These new ways of understandingwriting describe a change from seeing it as a matter of material, even inspiration("thunderbolt") that is simply documented ("scribbleddown"), towards a concern "to impose a structure on myself'. In the first instance this change is new and rather limited in its practice.It does, nevertheless,accept prevailingreadershipforms and is concernedto structure with respectto them. (I can) sort of see my work more objectively - without being biased
about it. (...) in the way that perhaps I would read someone else's work.

Justsortof uncluttered withoutthe sortof - the personalconnectionwith

the work. (...) incorporating techniques whereby you impose a structure

on yourself. (Holly) I make it do what I want it to do ... I think your overall experience helps, everybodyhas a certainlevel of experiencethatyou can makeinto something,but not everybodycan make that experienceinto something thatsomebody else would want to read. (Delora) This new sense of structuringmaterial is related to the student's ability to begin integratingreaderand readershipforms. Significantly,it is not seen as simply a way of conformingto more specific 'consumer'forms but ratheras a way of becoming "moreobjective"about one's work, more able to relate one's work to potentialreaders. I guess I'm aware of trying to make sense to other people, yet at the
same time, I don't - I think I make the reader work ... I'm aware of

not making it too easy for people, you know just sort of withholding information.I mean I am quite fond of ambiguity.(Carol) I think there are techniques that you can deploy ... things you should
do and shouldn't do (...) consistency of tone and, deciding who's point

of view this story going to be told from, and writing in such a way that
the reader's gonna be engaged (...) It's having a story to tell and being

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confident somebody else wants to hear it. (...) I kind of can sense now

what it is that would make somebody smile, what it is that would make somebodythink that's a bit over the top, or what it is that would make somebodycringe. (Paul) Thereis often a sense of confidenceand facility in the accountshere thatare associatedwith a more internalisedawarenessof the readerand an ability to speakto themwithin the activityof writing. TypeVI: Critiquing Critiquing conceptionsreveala concernto integratethe readerandreadership forms within the activity of writing,but there is also evidence of a personal dissent from and critiqueof certainaspects of that integration.Such critical dissent may consist in a dissenting critique of the practice itself and/or it might consist of a dissentingcritiqueof aspectsof thatpracticeover a variety of discourseissues and forms.
... you ought to have something to say if you're going to write (...)

some new insight, some comment on human experience some -(...) Maybe somethingpersonal,maybe somethingglobal but somethingthat is worthsaying thatyou wantto communicateto somebodyelse thathas a sortof worthto it. (.. .) um more awareI supposeof the importanceof originalityactually.Because thatbecomes quite a crucialissue when you are, really are writing somethingthat you think other people are going to read.Um, you know, am I saying anythingthat they haven't already
heard a million times before? (...) Or am I, you know, am I saying it in

such a way that they are going to see somethingdifferentabout it even if they have heardit. (Jill) I think I'm learning to differentiatebetween what I think I'm writing and what I've written, because ... just by hearing the responses,just realisingthatI thoughtI was saying somethingbut it wasn'tbeing heard andthenI musthave to, uh, thinkagain aboutwhatI'm tryingto say and,
and the way I'm saying it to get it heard more clearly. (...) You have to

be flexible and fluid to, to the possibilities that come up. And, and the truth,because sometimesyou can catch yourself lying I think.(...) Um, becausesomething'seasy to say. Because you've got it pegged. And then you get a little niggle, niggling feeling in the back of your mind:but is that what I mean, is that really, is that really it, or is that really true? (Monica) If both accounts are concernedwith integratingthe readerin their writing, they also suggest a critical contour to this conception of writing that is

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based in a personal dissent from and challenge to readershipissues. Jill, for example, is deeply concerned that writing be about something that is worth saying, a "new insight, some comment on human experience".This is disclosed in her emphasis on "the importanceof originality".The point is to integratethe reader "in such a way that they are going to see something differentabout it even if they have heardit". SimilarlyMonica notes a 'personal'impetus to critique:you may feel that "you've got it pegged" but thereis dissent,"alittle niggle"which demandsa morecriticalexaminationof what you have written:"is thatreally true".The concern,then, is not simply that the readerhas 'heard' what they are saying, but that the way in which they write uniquely challenges the way that the readerhas 'heard' it. And, significantly,it is this dissent from and challenge to other forms or ways in which the readermay have "heardit" which is, as Jill says, the "crucialissue when you are, really are writing something that you think other people are going to read." Discussion There are two overarchingthemes that emerge from the above results. The firstconcernsthe similaritiesthatcan be observedbetween the distinctionsin creative writing conceptions described here and the distinctions in conceptions of essay writing in more traditionaldisciplines in higher education. The two main categoriesof transcribingand composing conceptions closely reflectthe reproducing(meaning-using)and transforming (meaning-making) categoriesdescribedin researchon discursivewritingin general(Bereiterand Scardamalia1987) and in phenomenographicresearch elucidating conceptions of essay writingin particular. Indeed thereis a strongresemblancewith described in studies of discursive writing (Hounsell contrastingcategories 1984, 1997; Campbell et al. 1998). These similarities support the general research results of student experiences in higher education: that students conceptualise their study and writing activities in distinct and different ways, ways which teachers may not be aware of but which have important pedagogicalimplications. The second key theme to emergefrom this study andthe mainfocus of this discussion concerns the differenceswhich emerged in this researchbetween the natureof the conceptions of essay writing and those of creative writing. While there are importantparallels with these, there is also a fine variance worthexploringfurther. This may be elucidatedmore fully with a morefinely detailedcomparisonof conceptionsof essay writing and creativewriting. In his study of essay writing conceptions, Hounsell (1984b) describes three components of conception as data, organisation and interpretation.

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In the first instance, the public data component ("the raw material or the bedrock of essays" (p. 110) provided by others, made public by authors, teachersetc) may be contrastedwith the natureof the 'data' or materialthat creativewriting studentssaid they drew upon. They primarilyregardedthis material,drawnfrom their experiences,as personal(often private)in nature. The secondvariationwith essay conceptionsis with Hounsell's interpretation component("themeaningor meaningsgiven to essay materialby the student" (p. 110)). This difference centres on what might be called the 'directionof integration'.In contrastto the creativewriting concern to integrate(or not) the reader with the personal material,essay writing indicates a concern to integrate(or not) personal "meaningor meanings"with public materialand forms.The interpretation componentmay almostbe describedas a 'personalisation' of thatpublic materialor problemswith respect to the student'sown personal ideas and/or opinions: on the one hand in the "non-interpretative" ('detached')sense of merely 'acknowledging'thatthere shouldbe a personal stance alongside the public materialand on the other,in the "interpretative" sense in which the personal stance is 'integrated'with the public material. While not explicitly stated,thereis what might be called an implicitpersonal awareness(an awarenessof a relationshipof personalmeaningsto the public material)that, like reader awareness, may be describedas being 'detached' or 'integrated'. However,despite the convergencein the study of studentassumptionsof a 'subjectivistepistemology' which is attributedto the practice of creative writingas opposedto thatof essay writing,the resultsdo not supportthe view thatcreativewritingis a fundamentally differentform of writingvis-h-vis the as suggested by the work of Britton (1970) and Emig (1971). writing self, The presentfindingssuggest a differentepistemologicaldeparture point and, as a result, categories of understanding with a differentand an illuminating epistemologicalslant. There is no supportin the findingsfor suggesting that these differentmodes of writingareanythingotherthandifferencesof degree. Indeed, there is an interesting similarity suggested between the releasing conceptionof creativewritingdescribedabove and the viewpointconception of Psychology essay writing described by Hounsell (1997). Significantly, with the viewpointconception, he notes, "the general impression is one of a lack of concernwith this (publicdata) sub-component" 113). (p. This study of creative writing conceptions is most illuminating in its as analysis of the personalnatureof writing. It highlights the student-writer of meaning in terms of the other, as opposed personal producer/consumer to the studentas public consumer/producer meaning in terms of the self. of While in both cases, the discussion is of the same phenomena (differentiated by the differentkind of disciplinarywriting involved), the focus on

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theirvariancehere emphasises more clearly the dialogical natureof meaning and studentunderstanding. makes clearerthe 'multi-directional'natureof It studentconceptionsof writing in which meaning and understanding may be the describedin terms of the natureof the particular discipline: in particular directionalnature of the relationshipbetween the self and a public other. In this respect, understanding and meaning (depending on the natureof the be describedas being on a 'directionalcontinuum'. specific discipline)might Hounsell(1984), for example, notes important distinctionsbetween the essay writingconceptionsof Historyand Psychology students. ... the History studenthas comparatively greaterfreedom both to articof ulate an argumentwhich representshis or her own interpretation an historical problem and to focus the essay discussion aroundevidence relevantto this argument.(pp. 314-315) Significantly,this distinction is expressed in terms associated with creative History writing: of 'freedom' and scope for more personal interpretation. students' conceptions reflect a greaterdegree of freedom both with respect to the data (material)that they are able to bring to their essay writing and with respectto the forms theirparticular can interpretations take. ... in attemptingto groundhis or her essay firmlyin the literature the of discipline the Psychology studentcannotmake free play with empirical findings but must anchorthe discussion in whateverconceptualframework gave rise to those findings. ... By contrast,the data which form the raw materialfor the History student's essay do not have the same conceptualanchorage.(Hounsell 1984, p. 315) On the personal-publiccontinuum,History conceptions fall closer to that of creativewritingconceptionsthando those of psychology conceptions. The subtledistinctionsin the 'personal-public' balancethatappearto exist between the ways in which students understandwriting in particulardiscito of plines may also contribute ourunderstanding the documenteddifficulties studentsoften have in 'courseswitching' between disciplines (Lea and Street 1998). In this respect, the results of this study lend supportto the 'academic literacies' model of student writing which Lea and Street have recently described.This model "views student writing and learning as issues at the level of epistemologyandidentitiesrather thanskill or socialisation"(Lea and Street 1998, p. 159). The relationshipof the student'spersonal sense of iden(academicliteracy)associatedwith the discipline tity to the public readership becomes a significant component of how s/he may understandthe practice of writing within it. In some disciplines the relationship may lend itself more easily to the developmentof transforming/composing conceptions. In

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others it may work against such a development.In this respect,the findings presentedin this paper suggest, along with the 'academic literacies' model, "that one explanation for problems in student writing might be the gaps of between academic staff expectationsand student interpretations what is of involved in studentwriting"(p. 159). Tutorrecognitionand understanding the possibility of such personal-public distinctionswithin differentliteracies may help in dealingwith andovercomingcriticalproblemsin studentwriting. It also suggests a potentialline of furtherresearchand enquiry.

Notes
1. The research presented here is part of a larger research project mapping out student conceptions of creative writing. That research looked at three interlinkedperspectives of conceptions:compositional,structural situational(Light 1995a). and 2. A full descriptionand discussion all three aspects of conception can be found in Light (1995a). 3. A fuller analysis of 'conception' includes two qualifying features- cohesion and range. The first is concerned with the natureof the writing 'work' - techniques,conventions structures- the student utilises in writing. The second is concerned with the natureof personalor public writingforms the studenttakes in theirwriting.They are not necessary for the presentdiscussion.For a full analysis of them see Light (1995a).

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