As I was reading through Irene Clark's book, Concepts in Composition, I was fascinated to learn that a student's personality type influences his/her writing process.
Clark states that extroverts tend to be multi-drafters, that is students who like to explore their ideas through writing and have to write multiple drafts for one paper, while introverts tend to be One Drafters who visualize their paper in their head before writing and can write their paper all in one sitting.
The Myers Briggs Indicator Personality test measures if you are introverted or extroverted. George H Jensen and John K DiTiberio has indicated some relationship between personality types and writing processes. Extroverts like to explore ideas as they write. Extroverts like the trial and error of unstructured writing. They find free-writing a good way to generate ideas for they think better when writing quickly, impulsively and uncritically. Extroverts are perceivers who see the world as unstructured.
I have to infer from this research that if extroverts are multi-drafters who like to explore ideas through freewriting, then introverts are one drafters who like to plan their papers in their head. For extroverts, the pleasure of writing comes with the physicality of writing itself while for introverts the pleasure of writing is when they go through the process of visualization of the topic in their head before they write. Introverted One Drafters rewrite their pre-text in many drafts in their heads before they finally come up with a visual picture that they like.
While extroverted multi-drafters like to explore ideas in writing in the physical world. Multi-drafters like the outside world better and like to interact with the actual words on paper through many drafts before they find a paper they like. Some multi-drafters find pleasure in constantly re-writing their papers.
Introverted one-drafters who do their papers in one sitting do it that way because they like quick closure. They like to finish papers right away. The re-writing goes on in their heads and by the time they write down what they want, they are finished with their paper. They feel no need to physically re-write their papers over and over again like extroverted multi-drafters do. Introverted one drafters like writing that produces few surprises as the generative process proceeds transcription.
Extroverted multi-drafters feel they are never finished. They do not experience quick closure of their papers which is why they feel the need to forever revise their papers. They are willing to go back and keep writing indefinitely whereas introverted one-drafters loathe to go back to a finished piece once they have written down their first draft.
Implications for teachers
Students can be trained to select which rules are appropriate for which problem. Some students take the writing rules to literally and too inflexibly and the teacher can point out the dysfunctional qualities by assisting the student in developing flexible alternatives. You can make the One Drafters a little more like the Multi-Drafters and the Multi-Drafters a bit more like the One-Drafters.
For teaching one drafters, teachers need to make one drafters realize the need for more review and more rewrites and that they need to proofread and revise their papers more. One Drafters need to learn strategies for more exploration and invention in their writing. That means teachers can encourage one drafters to do more free-writing or to create in one drafters the joy of free-writing to get one drafters to loosen up and develop the patience to want to rewrite and improve their papers.
For teaching multi-drafters, teachers need to teach multi-drafters to be more efficient planners. Teachers can get multi-drafters to do more mind maps to help them visualize what they are writing so that they do not aimlessly write indefinitely multiple drafts. I give my students writing templates like the 5 paragraph essay structure to help mutli-drafters visualize what a paper could look like. When I teach writing structure, this helps students structure their paper and make their writing more efficient.
Also, teachers need to teach multi-drafters how to be more proficient on focusing on a topic quickly rather than agonize on one topic after another. In my 8 week Senior Seminar for English Majors class, I used to tell students from Day One of their Introduction Forum that they have to immediately start thinking about a topic for their senior paper and I give them tips from Day one on how to focus in on a topic because an 8 week class goes by very quickly.
I find it very interesting that a person's personality type influences his writing style. If you are interested in your personality, take the Briggs personality test and then think about your writing style.
Are you an introverted one drafter or are you an extroverted multi-drafter?
Clark, Irene. Concepts in Composition
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