A response to DePalma and Ringer's article “Toward a theory of adaptive transfer: Expanding disciplinary discussions of ‘transfer’ in second-language writing and composition studies”

DePalma and Ringer's article proposes an eclectic, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary framework of adaptive transfer of writing. They define the new view of transfer as dynamic, idiosyncratic, cross-contextual, rhetorical, multilingual, and transformative. Using a transformative experience of eleven nurses who transition from school to work, DePalma and Ringer illustrate the elements of their framework. However, their explanation raises a number of questions, specifically the following: the scope of the framework and its relevance to diverse educational and professional settings; the relationship of adaptive transfer and language and writing socialization; the view of reshaping writing in genre studies; and the role of methodological and pedagogical choices in the adaptive transfer framework.