Topic: Teachers' Responses to Students' Writing

Question: To what degree do teachers respond to students’ ideas in their writing and to mechanics?

Answer: “In responding to student writing, 47% of teachers’ comments focused on mechanical/grammatical skills, while 32% focused on ideas.” LM Rosen, 2983, p. 423.

Comment: I’m surprised that the teachers in this study responded as frequently as they did to ideas. I wonder what they said about those ideas? And I’m surprised that the comments focused on the mechanics fewer times than I expected. The image I usually have of English teachers is that they fill students’ papers with red ink and they’re only concerned about the mechanics.

I’m concerned about what the teachers said about the students’ ideas. If they spent their time agreeing or disagreeing with the students’ ideas, I think that that is unacceptable. If they discussed the effectiveness of the expression of those ideas, I think that is admirable. The problem of the suitability of the students’ ideas is another issue. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1984), 417-438.

Topic: Daily Writing

Question: What are the effects of daily writing for students?

Answer: “Found significant differences between pre-and post-test essays when students wrote daily for 12-week periods.” NB Hyscop, 1983, 421.

Comment: I found daily writing to be a wonderful complement to my regular writing instruction in the community college. I had students use their own topics to write ten-minute essays in class. No attempt was made to complete the essays. At the end of ten minutes, they turned in what they had written. That night, I corrected, literally, whatever mistakes they made in sentence structure, usage, punctuation, spelling as well as problems in clarity and awkward expression. Took some work, but it was worth it. The next day, outside of class, they re-wrote my corrected version. I made no change in ideas, just in grammar, spelling and unclear and awkward expression. For each rewritten copy, I awarded one point in extra credit. The effect of the revised version was to help students visualize their writing as correct writing.

At the end of twelve weeks, the number of students’ mistakes declined significantly. The students’ response to these daily ten-minute essays with my corrections, was that it gave them confidence in writing. Also enabled me to correct individual problems that might not have been useful for group explanation.

Of course, I only taught two courses a semester at the community college. What about high school with five classes? Take one class a day for three weeks. Then switch classes until each of the five classes has had the experience of writing daily 10-minute essays. In the second semester, begin again with the first class for three weeks and switch classes. The ten-minute essays were a highly successful complement to my regular writing instruction. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1984), 417-438.

Topic: Primary Trait Assessment System

Question: What are the effects of using a Primary Trait Assessment on students’ writing?

Answer: “Found that elementary and secondary teachers used the Primary Trait System to clarify lesson objectives, formulate assignments, help students evaluate ad respond to peers’ writing, assess student writing….” D Hollzkom, 1983, p. 421.

Comment: My understanding of the Primary Trait Scoring System is that a major component of writing, i.e., the thesis, provides at least three levels of scoring, from “clearly present,” to “partly present” to “non-existent.” Should be helpful in highlighting the presence or absence of a major writing component. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1984), 417-438.

Topic: Language Skills in on-the-Job Engineering

Question: Which are more valuable to an engineering graduate? Reading and writing skills or listening/speaking skills?

Answer: “In a survey of representatives from 100 companies, found that listening/speaking skills were rated more important for on-the-job performance of practicing engineers than reading/writing skills.” CL Selfe. 1983. 419.

Comment: I can understand the listening skills, and since engineering graduates have been trained in reading engineering textbooks, I would assume that they have the ability to read. But so far as writing is concerned, especially in formal presentations, organization in writing is an important preparation for speaking. And what about those interminable reports? I guess it is all in how one defines the terms listening, speaking, reading and writing. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1984), 417-438.

Topic: Expectations of Writing in College

Question: What are students’ expectations of writing in college and how do these expectations differ from those of college teachers?

Answer: “Survey of professors and students indicated that a majority of faculty prefer concise, less formal writing, though students believe that professors prefer wordy, complex and formal prose.” M Schwartz, 1984, 419.

Comment: I’m laughing because that is exactly what I thought professors wanted when I was in college. No wonder I didn’t receive many comments on my papers. I probably filled them with so much gobbledygook that they were incomprehensible. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1984), 417-438.