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Cross-Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader is a collection of articles about composition studies published by the National Council of Teachers of English. First published in 1997, the third edition was published in 2011, adding editor Kristin Arola to complement the expertise of Victor Villanueva, sole editor of the first two versions. Victor Villanueva, a professor in English at Washington State University, assembled the original collections to include topics in English pedagogy ranging from views of writing as a process, writing as discourse, writing as cognitively based, writing as a social process, and writing through the recognition of individual voice. Kristin Arola, also a professor in English at Washington State University, helped compile a new section in the third edition, adding prominent scholarship from the field of computers and writing.

Summary
Divided into six sections, Cross-Talk is situated around the larger phases of development in composition studies using a perspectives-based approach to examining the field since the emergence of the process movement. The first section, "The Givens in Our Conversations," implies a level of conclusiveness to the debate about the importance of paying attention to writing as a process, with inclusions from scholars Donald Murray, Janet Emig, Sondra Perl, Nancy Sommers, Walter Ong, Lisa Ede and Andrea Lunsford, and Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch, which concludes with Breuch's article considering "Post-Process 'Pedagogy'." For composition scholars, this first section provides an outline of pertinent scholarship that tracks the development from Murray's essay about the need to teach writing as a process to Breuch's essay on the pedagogical implications of a post-process approach to teaching,  acting as a foundation for composition studies as well as the remainder of this collection.

The second section, based on the perspective of writing as a mode of discourse, explores composition studies' views of how to teach writing and how to account for the various levels of complexity involved in doing so while recognizing a wide range of concerns. In short, "To some extent, each essay in this section is concerned with matters of the mind: ontology, epistemology, psychology." By framing and referencing the underlying assumptions attached to the writing process, section two familiarizes readers with the complexities inherent in teaching a subject that acts as a meta-genre, exploring the different layers of focus composition scholars should be aware of before entering the composition classroom. The final article, by James Berlin, closes the section with a look at the different views established by various scholars, explaining the variations among four dominant theoretical approaches to teaching the writing process.

As section two build from ideas section one, so does section three from section two, starting out with a recognition of the epistemological category of positivism, which sees the mind developing through a process with certain "natural" stages, usually framed in composition studies in reference to the ideas of Jean Piaget. As the preface to the section states, "So intriguing are the language and thought connections provided by Piaget and Vygotsky that composition becomes obsessed with recognizing those stages, fostering their development, believing in their lack when expectations for student writing are not met." Using the works of scholars Linda Flower and John Hayes, Lunsford, Mina Shaughnessy, Patricia Bizzell, Ann Berthoff, and Mike Rose, section three contextualizes the notions found within theories of cognitive development with their implications for composition instruction.

Moving away from positivists' thinking, section four, "Talking about Writing in Society," adds scholarship which considers ways for understanding the role of context in creating an effective classroom experience for students. Leaving the Cartesian model of knowledge acquisition, articles from Kenneth Bruffee, Greg Myers, and John Trimbur explore ideas of knowledge formation as a collective act, one able to benefit from collaborative learning models and formed from collective understanding. In this light, Meyers identifies factors which determine what classifies as collective knowledge through a discussion of ideology, consensus, and reality. This leads to the acknowledgement that reality doesn't always form in an all-inclusive manner, which segues into the latter half of section four's articles which consider the importance of recognizing various contact zones, or those places and times where unique experiences and personal histories interact in a way that can often times lead to the need for a greater awareness of "the ideas, interests, histories, and attitudes of others"  if we are to ever teach and communicate in a way that doesn't result in the ostracization of student experiences.

Section five continues with the idea of valuing personal experiences as a way of invoke meaningful writing by extending the conversation to considerations of the position one's own personal voice should take in the role of learning and teaching effective communication. Considering voice as a valuable asset to the development of strong thinking results in the use of "autobiography as social and political, with some asking if the political has any place in the composition classroom." Exploring the need for students to embody the discourse of the established academic community, section five provides contradictory evidence to the notion of academic writing being a process of mimicking a "distinctive register" and instead suggests benefits to the allowance of using personal experience as resulting in an "interest of keeping our boundaries fluid, our discourse invigorated with multiple perspectives, and our policies and practices well-tuned toward a clearer respect for human potential and achievement from whatever their source and a clearer understanding that voicing at its best is not just well-spoken but also well-heard."

The last section, "Virtual Talk: Composing Beyond the Word," adds to the third edition an element not present, or possibly not even necessary, in the two editions preceding the release its release in 2011. With the constant and rapid evolution of technology combined with the expanding opportunities this evolution creates, interactions among technology, literacy, visual communication, and the politics of the classroom all develop as important topics for composition scholars' consideration. By recognizing the potential for a new paradigm, scholars began exploring the roles of teachers in a new environment where computer-mediated communication creates the opportunity to nurture as well as oppress the interests and thoughts of students. Ultimately, questions surrounding the degrees in which computer technologies, and broader technologies that exist outside the traditional mode of the written essay, should be the focus of student learning and whether or not the inherent costs of accessing these technologies results in a new, yet continued, form of ostracization from the affordances of such a pedagogical approach are considered. Since teachers and students are thought to be mutually enveloped in the development of technology as it occurs and in need of understanding the uses and operational affordances of such advances, scholars Cynthia Selfe, Richard Selfe, and others have argued the importance of not only acting as teachers of students, but also allowing students to teach teachers. Because of the rapid evolution of technology and the ever increasing level of digitality present in American society, the likelihood of this approach offering benefits to both parties becomes more obvious as teachers see students with capabilities and interests that span a spectrum of computer-based composition processes that develop as rapidly as they appear, allowing for new, innovative ways of making meaning that should be considered for their potential value in connecting with the interest of students.