Ｃｏｇｎｉｔｉｖｅ Ｐｒｏｃｅｓｓｅｓ ｉｎ Ｗｒｉｔｉｎｇ

Abstract: Writing has become one of important topic to discuss in the new age. Its theories could be generally learnt， but its nature needs to handle in specific contents. In another words， every one who can write must generate his/her thinking or cognitive processes. Because writing thinking is to do meaningful activities， how to solve writing problems could be managed through cognitive process.

Keywords:writing，cognitive processes

作者簡介:李瑩，甘肅人，1984年11月生，貴州大學外國語學院研究生，外國語言學及應用語言學專業。

【中圖分類號】H781 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】1002-2139(2009)-17-0048-02

When writing， writers tend to think with cognitive processes. They rarely follow one after another step， but go back and forth among many processes simultaneously. In this manner， it is better to know writing processes for it helps arrange products. This essay， therefore， aims to analyze and discuss something on writing， such as discovering， conceiving， expressing， and thinking processes. Particularly， cognitive process as the core of the essay is necessary to take into account.

I. The view of cognition in linguistics and writing

From cognitive linguistics view， “cognition” is to study how to use common rules of language， which relates to thinking and memory. It delves language into perception， experience and the way of observing things. To discuss cognition， two important stages: “noticing” and “memory” must be mentioned. As 孫穎 put it (2003)， “noticing” refers to perceiving things. Once writers “notice” something as target-information they will select the information. Under such condition， it allows us to choose messages that writers are interested in. Meanwhile， it restricts to picking up things occurring at the same time. “Memory” involves its short-term and long-term. Although they function individually， storing writing items and connecting materials to existing knowledge， short-term memory gradually transfers the information into long-term one， and they serve for cognitive activities.

Cognitive process comes from cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics. According to 王 (2008)， writing is an infinitive cognitive process， hard conceiving， seriously solving problems and expression， consciously observing， perceiving questions and refreshing or rethinking them. That means when we choose the theme and the content， we ought to consider whether it is valuable to write. Take someone saw a scene as an example. At first， he described the plot and to express， he had to think about its real mean on the one hand， and he must consider what to write next on the other. The procedure of the case is actually a cognitive process.

II. Cognitive process in writing

As known， “thinking is the result of external activities; the formation of cognitive thinking is reflected with cognitive activities and it is made from direct precision and abstract deductive.” (段， 2008， P.16) When discussing thinking and human activities together， clearly there is an important to show cognitive effect. It is believed cognitive process brings about various thinking ways and thinking process and thinking especially draw drafts in one’s mind， therefore.

2.1 Cognition thinking and performance thinking

Cognitive processes include precision and experience， analysis and synthesis， abstract and general towards outside. One can gain reasonable knowledge through perceptual to rational; in cognitive processes， one mostly emphasizes on the form of thoughts and its emotion. However， turning cognitive processes into writing products needs thinking process that is performance thinking. Namely， it is the process from abstract to concrete. To realize it， performance thinking firstly requires searching for recognition. Then， it must abstract some typical and specific materials to develop cognition， and last， with fixed requirements， it fits to set corresponding symbols to accomplish (段， 2008). In writing， because original materials need to choose again and again and it is nature to lead cognitive and thinking activities， which would produce a new idea or even， subvert original understanding. Thus， in most cases， performance and cognition are combined and they interact with each other. As this essay， cognitive process is referred to thinking process.

2.2 Cognitive processes

Thinking is the production of practice in reality， and it servers for practice. Consequently， to learn thinking has to know practice and only thinking theories are based on practice， they would be worthwhile. As a performance activity， writing reflects and promotes human’s thinking. With its developing， thinking features are shaped. Just as汪圣安 (1992) claimed thinking characters: indirect and general cognitive process， and to solve problems. His view figures out cognitive process are thinking processes in writing.

The function of thinking is determined by features of writing and its collecting materials， or abstracting the theme or organizing the structure， all is guided by thinking processes. Thus， the core of writing lies in thinking or cognition， and because thinking centers writing purposes， it brings one’s chaos psychological state in complete cognitive activities so that writing ambition would come into.

In ordinary cognitive process， more objective thinking materials are， more real thinking results. Whereas， in writing cognition， with very strong subjective emotion or feeling， more subjective content， wider creativity in writing thinking. Obviously， writing cognitive process， differing with general one， contains as many as psychological and cognitive activities， such as consciousness， unconsciousness， perception， emotion and memory etc. The whole way of cognition actually is a process that a number of psychological contents integrate with each other.

2.3 Coordination and confrontation strategies in cognitive processes

Knowingly， there is more than one successful composing process in writing because there are varied cognitive abilities and writing strategies. Coordination and confrontation strategies are regarded as the “control device” to settle barriers in writing contexts. If writers are aware that thinking results are against thinking settings， to make their thinking targets and materials unify， they will explore beneficial factors to keep balance on the one hand， and they may reduce adverse information to realize writing on the other. For instance， writers could explain and change disadvantageous to favorable influencers. The reason why cognition is disharmony is that language and culture diverse， and to solve it is to coordinate writing strategies.

Even though coordinated result is far from thinking goal sometimes， writers’ cognition has reached a certain extent， and then confrontation strategy can be employed. Usually， coordination joins in writing， but there are various phenomena interfering with people’s cognition， decision and behavior， therefore， in order that the content is coordinated with the background and audience’s interest， “coordination” and “confrontation” strategies had better consider. After all， common sense is being in cognitive processes. And thinking is strong and it shows some rules of cognition， confrontation strategy is one good way to deal with the condition (馬， 2002). With the help of readers and backgrounds’ coordination， writing purpose and function can be arrived.

In fact， thinking and writing are unable to apart. To realize thinking process is to practice writing and to accomplish satisfactory works. Meanwhile， thinking just shows writers’ psychological cognitive processes and cognitive activities constitute cognitive thinking， therefore writing process is no longer to be liner， but recursive.

III. Conclusion

Writing is not a simple linear process， but multi-level cognitive processes， as a result， in processes of writing， “discovering” of writing， “conceiving” and “expression” mutual influence. And hierarchical processes of cognition are from rational to conceptual and from abstract to specific. In addition， to pursuit cognition harmony and unity， most influencers are involved in writing processes and only if balanced factors come out， such as writing purposes and its settings， culture and personal thoughts， harmonious cognition could be out. Yet if the situation is not so unified， confrontation strategy another writing strategy could be used， which is the same way to make cognitive processes favor to writing.

References:

[1] 段建軍， 李偉， 2008. 新編寫作思維學教程【M】.上海: 復旦大學出版社

[2] 馬正平， 2002. 高等寫作思維訓練教程【M】.北京: 中國人民大學出版社

[3] 孫穎， 2003. 試論認知活動的注意與記憶. 解放軍外國語學院【J】， 5: 47-50

[4] 汪圣安， 1992. 思維心理學【M】.華東師范大學出版社