Transcript More on Instruction, Less on Correction

Teaching College Writing:
More on Instruction, Less on Correction
Undraa Maamuujav
Lecturer/ESL Instructor
California State University, Los Angeles
November 19, 2016
CATESOL 2016 Annual Conference
San Diego, CA
THE BIG QUESTION
How Can I Help My Students
To Become Better Writers
Without Discouraging Them and Myself
WHAT MAKES IT DISCOURAGING?
Practice of Error Correction
Students
Instructor
It discourages students:
A burdensome task:
Grammar Correction is discouraging to many
ESL students even harmful to their writing
ability (Semke, 1984; Kepner, 1991; Sheppard,
1992; Truscott, 1996)
Reading student essays becomes the most
distasteful and onerous task of our profession.
We discourage students to
rewrite:
“We unintentionally discourage our students
from performing the messy draftwork essential
to rewriting.” (Lindemann, 1995)
Vague, mixed message to
students:
Instructor’s editing and correction “encourages
the student to see the text as a fixed piece,
frozen in time, that just needs some editing”
(Sommers, 1982)
Consumes most of our time:
“Most teachers estimate that it takes them at
least 20 to 40 minutes to comment on an
individual student paper.” (Sommers, 1982)
Editor, responsible for our
students’ errors:
We are not paid for a job of an editor, but we
voluntarily impose it on ourselves.
We don’t know the value of our
practice:
We do not know the effect our correction has on
helping our students become good writers.
WHY ARE WE SO COMPELLED TO CORRECT ERRORS?
Common Beliefs
Instructor correction, especially grammar correction, is an essential part
of any writing course
If the teacher points out the grammatical errors and directly and
indirectly provides the correct forms, then the student will understand
their mistakes, learn from it, and ultimately their ability to write will
improve (Gray, 2004).
Fossilization may occur if errors are left without correction (Gray, 2004)
Students perceive that “good teachers” notice, comment, and correct
errors - Those who don’t are lazy.
In many IEP writing curriculum, grammar correction is highly valued and
not doing so may be deemed unprofessional.
IS CORRECTION WORTH THE TIME AND EFFORT?
Contrary to common beliefs, our experiences show
Students continue making the same mistakes over
and over again
Students have difficulty understanding our
corrections
Students mechanically enter our corrections without
knowing the rules and reasons behind them
There are a select few who entirely neglect your
corrections
Wake-up call
I am ________ and a student in your class during 1:00-3:00 Pm.on Monday and
Wednesday. There is my essay about "smartphone" that was changed a lot by me. You,
please check it. I felt very lucky to take your class in my last quarter. You are a very
friendly person. I am very thank you help me to revise my paper again and again. I
learned a lot of stuff in your class such as make the sentences complete and apparently.
Also, the writer needs to create a great organization to make up the content looks like a
unit. I also learned about a great example is critical for a paper. You help me to open
my mind when I write my article. My writing skills are not very well, but I constant to
hard working on my paper and try to meet your requirements. I feel big change between
now and previous.
Right now, I already get a job offer from China Eastern Airline in China. They are
waiting for me get a degree and go back to take the interview. The opportunity is
imperative for me. As we all know, the tuition fee is very high for international students
and my parents don't have any more money to support me to take any more quarter in
the United States. They are necessary me to get bachelor degree end of the semester and
then go back China to help them pay off debt. Moreover, my girlfriend graduate from
the University of Irvine at one year ago and working in Shanghai, China. She is waiting
for me to go back to get married at the end of the year. Therefore, I hope to pass your
class successfully. Thank your patient and friendly again.
WHY WE SHOULD NOT CORRECT OUR STUDENT PAPERS?
Effect on students
By correcting their errors for them, you are depriving
them of the opportunity to develop self-editing skill
Encouraging your students to be dependent on you.
Effect on instructor
Adds stress and unnecessary load of work: Nature of
our field and profession
Wasted energy, time, effort
After all, our job title is INSTRUCTOR, not EDITOR
Instruct, not correct
A crucial part of becoming a better writer is being a good editor
who demonstrates an ability to revise thoughtfully and accurately,
recognize errors, correct their own work.
Help our students to:
Student
Recognize errors
Analyze errors
Correct errors
Holistic approach to teach writing
Supplemental
Thoughtful Response
Clear focus
Awareness of
Audience
Effective Organization
Unity and Coherence
Development of Ideas
Argument Building
Clarity of ideas
Rhetorical Situation
Syntactic Variety
words, words, words
Verb Forms and Auxiliary
Coordination
Verb Tense System
Subordination
Nouns and Quantity Words
Correlative Conjunctions
Active and Passive Voice
Parallel Structure
Subject-Verb Agreement
Adjectives and Adverbs
Participial Phrase
Infinitives and Gerund
Absolute Phrase
Prepositions and Phrasal
Appositive Structure
Subject-Verb Inversion
Verbs
Conditions and wishes
Infinitive and Gerund
WRITING PROCESS
Prep
Reading
Summary
Analysis
Structure
Argument
Reflection
Plan
Topic
Brainstorm
Peer work
Clustering
Outlining
Free-writing
Write
Revise
In-class
Timed
First Draft
Feedback
No marking
Sample
Discussion
Revision 1
Peer
Review
Tutor
Revision 2
Submission
Edit
Workshop
- Identify
- Analyze
- Correct
Conferenc
e
- Diagnose
• Workshop day designed for guided editing: short
lessons/demonstrations followed by self-editing
• One-on-one conference to give individualized help: Diagnose
and guide
Suggestions
Do not feel guilty for returning their papers without marking.
Communicate your expectation: The writer is the one who holds the
pen to mark and correct.
Use their writing as a sample.
Have them edit their work, not someone else’s work.
Building language competence and control is a complex, gradual
process which occurs both developmentally and hierarchically
through extensive exposure.
Be a reader, not an editor!
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for the rest
of his life.”
Thank you