Response to Paul Prior

In a reply to Paul Prior's (2005) response to Andrews's "Models of Argumentation in Educational Discourse" (Text, 2005, 25, 1, 107-127), it is argued that Andrews's & Prior's positions are complementary & that both are needed for the development of a superior theory of argumentation. Skepticism regarding models of argumentation on the part of Prior & S. Toulmin (2003) is addressed by emphasizing the criterial importance of the purpose of a model; in the field of textual composition, frequent application of models to problems they were not designed to address does not invalidate models as working tools distilled from practice. A collaboration with Prior to construct a satisfactory model of composition in argument is envisioned, based on Prior's reference to the notion of multiple laminated framings in Erving Goffman's (1974) theory of frame analysis. 9 References. J. Hitchcock