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WRITING MATTERS #4
For teachers of
writing-intensive classes
From assessment studies
conducted by The University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Writing Program
Overcoming Writing Errors
| When I got my paper
back, she had marked all kinds of mistakes. I wasn't surprised
because I just couldn't get it--the readings were so hard and
there was a lot I couldn't figure out. That's why I couldn't get
the words right: I never understood what I was writing about in
the first place. I should've chosen a different topic.--Marketing
major
|
It's 9:45 Tuesday night. You're reading
a report from your pile of student papers. Your smile grows slowly as
you read. Wow, you think. A breath of fresh air. She's really
gotten it together.
Thursday night, 7:45. You've reached
the last report. Slowly your eyebrows rise. Help!, you want to
cry. You find yourself circling verb forms, correcting punctuation,
and jotting questions marks. When you finally feel I'm drowning,
you stop. Why am I marking all this?' you wonder. This paper isn't
even making a point.'
It's a predictable sequence: students
make writing errors and instructors try to eliminate them.
Unfortunately, UH students tell us instructors'
"corrections" on final drafts don't help because many
language errors are rooted in problems with understanding content.
In this issue of Writing Matters, we focus on strategies
for helping students gain control over their written language. Your
extra attention as you design assignments and offer comments to guide
students' revisions of their drafts can both help students and save
you time. The suggestions we offer come primarily from instructors who
have taught several writing-intensive courses.
IN THE BEGINNING:
DEVISE ASSIGNMENTS TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE USE
Our assessment studies indicate that
the more unfamiliar a would-be author is with a topic, or the more
novel the task, the greater the incidence of surface error. Both
native and ESL speakers tell us that if they cannot understand complex
concepts or make sense of academically-challenging reading, they have
trouble finding the right words." So the first key to helping
students gain language proficiency is shaping assignments to help them
understand content.
- Sequence due dates
so that students can become comfortable with both the content and
the language of their topic. You could, for example, require
written reading notes, an organizational plan, a first draft, and
a revised draft on different dates over a six-week period.
- Give students
enough time to read thoroughly and enough time to make foreign
content familiar by writing informally about it. Many teachers
require that students keep reading "logs" and write
syntheses that reflect different points of view. Students can help
each other understand difficult texts by discussing their
responses in pairs or small groups. You can then ask students to
use their informal writing to draft a tentative thesis and
one-paragraph summary of likely arguments.
IN THE MIDDLE:
GIVE FEEDBACK ON CONTENT, PRESCRIPTIONS ON STYLE, AND ADVICE ON
USAGE
Require a well-developed draft
two or three weeks before the final is due. Require also that
it be readable, though not ready-for-publication "perfect."
- Focus your own
comments and--perhaps solicit student comments--on how well the
draft deals with content and structure concerns. Does the
draft follow the assignment? Is the thesis appropriate and clear?
Is the thesis fully and soundly supported? Is the material
organized effectively?
- Give students
samples of the style "rules" they should follow in
preparing their final draft. Students tell us that they often
don't understand an instructor's "marks"--they don't
know which marks relate to usage dictated by style sheets (e.g.,
APA, MLA), which to a teacher's personal preferences (e.g., shall
versus will), and which to actual language-usage error.
Your clarifications in these areas will help them figure out where
to look for help in achieving correctness.
| My professor told me he was
changing my grammar errors, but it wasn't a grammatical error.
It was the way I worded things. Like he'd circle all the therefore's in
my paper.--Art major |
- Teach students how
to fix one or two of the most frequent kinds of error before they
do their final edit. Experienced instructors often demonstrate
how to fix the most consequential errors (e.g., sentence
fragments) rather than mark each error on each student's draft.
Such demonstrations are most helpful when followed by a peer
editor's placing a check mark in the margin of a draft near
instances of the focal errors. The student author is then
responsible for locating and correcting the errors before the
final draft is submitted. Some instructors ask students to keep a
record of errors: it can be an editing checklist with future
assignments.
NEAR OR ON THE DUE DATE:
HELP STUDENTS LEARN TO EDIT THEIR OWN WRITING
During the class just before a final
version is due, require students to participate in a 20-minute
"editing workshop."
- Have students read
their semifinal drafts aloud to an "editing partner."
When students read aloud, their implicit mastery of grammar often
kicks in (studies report that writers who read their texts aloud
self-correct grammar errors up to 90% of the time). Unfortunately,
the "correction" comes so automatically that the reading
author usually doesn't note it. That's why having an editing
partner--someone who points out differences between what an author
spoke and what an author wrote--can be most helpful.
| The following is a transcript of a
student self-correcting errors (underscored words are the
student's verbal corrections):
Written draft--According to Lanai corporation's current
condition, the management can ignore the debt and only focuses
on the expansion. The combination of new bond and warrant is the
most effective strategy.
Reading--According to Lanai corporation's current
condition, the management can ignore the debt and focus only
on the expansion. The combination of new bonds and warrants
is the most effective strategy for the corporation.
|
- Or, have students
bring copies of a draft to be "marked" by other students
(authors' names can be removed or left on).
- Have students
consult resident "editing doctors." Some instructors
appoint pairs of students as "editing doctors" early in
a semester ("You two will become class experts on run-on
sentences; you two, on APA citation form"). The pairs learn
the rules in their area and other authors can consult them during
or after the in-class editing workshop.
| The professor required us to
have our reports proofread before turning them in. The person
who read mine found some mistakes that I missed. That really
helped.--Zoology major |
After you've received the final papers,
consider these strategies:
-
Take
advantage of the "cooling off" period. Students tell
us they often don't proofread. You can counter this by collecting
final papers on the due date and doing nothing with them. Next
class, return the papers to their authors for a final proofread
and edit. Inform students that it will be their responsibility to
proofread before the due date on the next assignment.
-
With
unreadable papers, simply "Return to sender."
Sometimes a student's draft may be indecipherable because usage,
mechanics, and spelling errors have taken blinding control over
meaning. Don't waste time "marking" errors. Ask the
student to make the paper readable so you can give it a fair
evaluation.
WHEN READING FINAL PAPERS:
HIGHLIGHT WHAT WORKS
How should you mark final papers?
Research indicates that most students pay little attention to
instructors' careful markings of language errors. Attention to error
is better provided via the approaches we just reviewed. On the final
paper, seasoned WI instructors suggest that you capitalize on
students' writing strengths. We've learned that when instructors
highlight what students do well, students are more likely to focus on
what they know how to do as writers and to see subsequent writing
tasks as opportunities for new learning.
PARTING WORDS ON A PERENNIAL PROBLEM
Let's face it. The elimination of all
usage, punctuation, and spelling errors in student writing may be as
elusive a goal as buying a defect-free car. Learning to become
skillful writers and editors takes constant practice and patience. The
more instructors can help students assume responsibility for correct
language use, the more students will be able to become skillful,
effective writers. For most students, that's a responsibility worth
assuming. |
