Preparing the College Writer Issues, Problems, Proposed Solutions

1. Preparing the College WriterIssues, Problems, Proposed Solutions Dr. Fred Kemp Texas Tech University 5060, Fall 2011

2. Two Problems with Incoming Freshman • They dislike writing • They lack a “critical consciousness”

3. Two Problems with Incoming Freshman • They dislike writing • The “minefield effect” • The “Hemingway” solution • The 5-paragraph “training wheels” approach • They see writing as a performance, not an act of communication • They lack a “critical consciousness”

4. Two Composition Problems with Incoming Freshman • They dislike writing • They lack a “critical consciousness” • They don’t “see” dysfunction in the text • They are unaware of alternative expressions • They are unaware of the “rhetorical nature” of writing (audience awareness)

5. Writing as Performance, NOT as Communication • The student writer is a novice writing to an expert • The document is intended to be graded, not read • The “rhetorical impulse” is lacking, and so is motivation (Moffett’s “drama”)

6. Are students inherently non-rhetorical? Are they simply anti-writing? Do they reject modes of written communication?

7. Are you kidding?

8. The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle

9. The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle Subjective Transactional Objective Language (aesthetic)

10. The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle Expressive Diaries, personal Rhetorical Persuasive Referential informative Language Literary

11. The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle Sincerity and honesty Peer Interaction Accuracy and evidence Style

12. Recapturing the Rhetorical Nature of Writing • Give students a reader not a grader

13. Recapturing the Rhetorical Nature of Writing • Give students a reader not a grader • Teach the characteristics of effective writing as a review process, not a generative process

14. Recapturing the Rhetorical Nature of Writing • Give students a reader not a grader • Teach the characteristics of effective writing as a review process, not a generative process • Write often, but eschew formalisms

15. Really Hard Advice to Follow

16. Really Hard Advice to Follow • Do not use reading anthologies or reading assignments.

17. Really Hard Advice to Follow • Do not use reading anthologies or reading assignments. • Do not use a textbook.

18. Really Hard Advice to Follow • Do not use reading anthologies or reading assignments. • Do not use a textbook. • Use argument and research for the latter part of the course.

19. Really Hard Advice to Follow • Do not use reading anthologies or reading assignments. • Do not use a textbook. • Use argument and research for the latter part of the course. • Have students turn in some writing every class period. Frequency is key.

20. How, Dad, How? • Assign many short pieces related to events within the students’ universe of discourse. • Work with multiple drafts. • Share these with classmates, who are given specific writing elements to critique. • Grade the critiquers on these early drafts, not the writers. • Do “quick and dirty” peer edits on the day of turn-in.

21. I can’t follow this advice. What’s the Bottom Line? What do College writers need to know how to do?

22. I can’t follow this advice. What’s the Bottom Line? What do College writers need to know how to do? • Think critically: challenge their own assertions and defend them with viable logic and evidence.

23. I can’t follow this advice. What’s the Bottom Line? What do College writers need to know how to do? • Think critically: challenge their own assertions and defend them with viable logic and evidence. • Manage sentence boundaries and avoid Connors and Lunsford’s 20 common errors.

24. FIN