Anne Beaufort
Anne Beaufort is an American writing studies scholar whose research on writing expertise identified the knowledge domains that distinguish expert writers from novices.
Core ideas
- Five knowledge domains of writing expertise: Beaufort’s longitudinal research identified five domains that expert writers draw on: discourse community knowledge, subject matter knowledge, genre knowledge, rhetorical knowledge, and writing process knowledge. Weakness in any one domain produces recognizably different failures [@beaufort2007].
- Transfer problem: Beaufort showed that writing instruction often fails to transfer across contexts because it focuses on generic skills (grammar, thesis statements) rather than the situated, domain-specific knowledge that expert writers actually use. A student who writes well in a composition class may write poorly in a biology course because the discourse community knowledge is different.
- Discourse community: each discipline, profession, and institution constitutes a discourse community with shared conventions, values, and epistemological assumptions. Learning to write in a new domain means learning to participate in its discourse community — not just following its templates.
Notable works
- College Writing and Beyond: A New Framework for University Writing Instruction (2007)
Related
- genre — one of Beaufort’s five knowledge domains
- audience — discourse community knowledge shapes what counts as appropriate for an audience
- rhetoric and composition — the discipline Beaufort’s work contributes to