WRITING MATTERS #2
For teachers of
writing-intensive classes
From assessment studies
conducted by The University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Writing Program
Responding to Student Writing
Perhaps no aspect of teaching with writing
provokes as much instructor anxiety as providing written or oral responses
to student texts. Here are two typical comments from professors:
- I know I
could give my students better feedback on their writing. How,
though, should I be looking at their writing? I never get enough
response to my comments to know what works or what doesn't.
- I spend a
lot of time writing comments. But I wonder, is all the work I do
worth anything?
Students look for instructor comments. In
fact, in our assessment work at the Mānoa Writing Program, we find that no
other topic generates more student comment than what professors say about
their writing. Here are a couple of typical comments from students:
- I thought all the check marks in the
margins meant I was doing OK and the plus signs meant the writing was
"really good." If my essay was really good, how come she
made me rewrite it again?
- The professor corrected all my
grammar errors on my first draft. But he also wrote, "You miss
the epistemological value of the text." I didn't know what he
meant and I didn't know how to revise my paper! I was really confused.
COMMENTS AS SOURCES OF CONFUSION
Professors' comments, like other forms of
communication, are fraught with possibilities for misunderstanding. Our
assessments show that misunderstandings of professors' responses to
student writing usually stem from one or more of three possibilities:
- students aren't clear on what the
professor is looking for, and why;
- students don't understand what the
comments mean; and
- students, although they may understand
comments, don't know how to do what a comment suggests.
HELPING STUDENTS BY ANTICIPATING STUDENT QUESTIONS
In the last issue of Writing Matters,
we listed several questions students want to ask their professors about
writing assignments. Here we list two questions students tell us they want
to ask their professors about comments on their writing.
1. What Are You Going to Be Looking for?
Students want some sense of what
instructors will be looking for as they respond to the writing. What you
tell them will in part be determined by the purpose of the writing
assignment. It will also be determined by what you expect students to do
next--something we will see in students' second question below. The best
time to answer this question is while you are designing the assignment.
Here are ways in which some professors deal
with this question.
- With certain assignments for example,
journals or personal responses to readings you may be looking simply
to see whether or not a student has done the writing. You can tell
your students to anticipate a "+ " or "-" based on
quantity; because the writing will not be revised, no extensive
comments are necessary. Some professors give bonus points for
particularly full responses. Others underscore special insights with a
highlighter and put wavy lines under content that is unclear.
- Students value assignments that help
them learn a genre they will use in their work or in advanced courses
for example, a prospectus, a report of findings, or a site analysis.
Because students need repeated practice to master specialized forms of
writing, you frequently will be making comments to guide their
revising. You can help them even with their first draft by listing
on the assignment sheet two or three specific features (such as
attention to reader's familiarity with the topic or appropriate
selection of quotations and references) you will be looking for.
- Sometimes it is useful to turn this
question back to your students. Have them write a brief
self-assessment and attach it to the draft they are giving you.
Ask them to describe two or three things they have done well and two
or three things that they plan to revise. Ask what kind of feedback
they want. Their own assessments and requests can then guide your
responses.
2. What Do You Want Me to Do with Your
Comments?
Students report that they sometimes read
over a professor's comments but don't know what next to do.
You can save yourself a lot of time and
energy by doing two things before you even write your first comment.
Read quickly over the whole draft
before you comment. Writing comments from the beginning can often
set you off on tangents. With a sense of the whole, you are more
likely to focus your comments on what is most useful.
Figure out what you want the student
to do with your comments. This works best when you've structured
your assignments so that students have both the knowledge and the time
they need to do what your comments intend.
Students find suggestions on how to do better
next time more helpful than comments that merely identify what they have
done well or poorly.
Here are some illustrative comments from
professors:
| Weak |
Better |
| You raise many important
issues but your organization is weak. I never knew what to expect
next. The paper was lacking enough support. Where is the development
of the ideas? |
You raise three important
points on your second page. But they get lost amid all the other
points you are making. On your next draft, why not focus on just
those three?
|
| Look at the sample again.
You haven't written a summary. It's not only incoherent but you
included your opinions as well. |
In your second paragraph
you did a good job sticking to the main point plus key evidence,
something I hope to see more of in your next summary. In the other
paragraphs you mixed in your personal opinions (I underlined
opinions). |
| Your lit review is
comprehensive. You brought in all the right studies (including a few
I wasn't aware of--thank you!). But the review is too long. You used
too many quotations. |
In psychology we usually
summarize research findings rather than quote from research reports.
In your revision, try to summarize what you quoted. Your lit review
will only be half as long. |
| I had trouble following
your argument as I read your paper. It's not coherent. There aren't
any transitions between your ideas or clues about what you are
trying to say. I didn't know what your point was until I read the
last paragraph. |
A lot of this is pretty
fuzzy and your logic gets tangled. But then I get to your final
paragraph and it's a good summary, and I think, YOU DO KNOW HOW TO
WRITE CLEARLY! Would you want to try that paragraph as your first
paragraph? It could provide your reader with a neat outline of what
will come next (and provide you with an organizational plan). |
While your comments on student writing will
vary from student to student, very often you will find that several
students need help with the same process. Rather than write the same thing
on several papers, you can use five minutes of class time to review a
process. Or if you prefer to type responses on a word processor, you can
write up the general comments in a macro and personalize your specific
comments to several students.
We will return to this topic of responses
to student writing in future issues of Writing Matters. The
examples we have offered here show that responding is complex work. It is
part of a discussion and often a negotiation. Effective comments guide and
motivate students to more effective writing and learning about the course
topics. Careful planning about what you want your responses to accomplish
can help your students think more carefully as well as write more
proficiently. |
