WRite Away! Volume 4, Number 2 (December 1998) WR: In general, what does an activity theory perspective buy you?
CB: It can help make people foreground the immediate setting, in terms of goals, practices that are coming out of that setting, tools and artifacts within each setting, rules and conventions that are appropriate to various kinds of communication in the setting, the institution itself that the setting is a part of, which is very, very important.
WR: What are the implications of an activity theory perspective for teachers of writing in the disciplines?
CB: In those university settings where there’s more and more involvement of students in faculty research—which is a really exciting reform movement—it has, I think, important implications for writing across curriculums. Students are actually participating in research settings, or what some of my colleagues are calling communities of practice. These students are starting to understand what people think and do when they do research on a problem set.