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The Writing of Students: Is it possible to teach
students how to write?
Andrea Milde [email protected] í Hamri 01.03.2010, 11:40 am
Content
Learning how to write Writing advising and teaching Writing of students & problems Discussion
Is it possible to teach students how to write?
Peter Elbow (1973) says „it is possible to learn and not to
be taught”, and sees himself as a facilitator, who
accompanies students in their development as a writing person, but
not as a mediator of rules for better texts.
Girgensohn (2006, 2) says
that she doesn‘t learn how to write by someone telling her how to do it, but by trying it out herself.
Capossela points out,
„It‘s possible to make better writers AND better writing, but not if the writing is made better by another hand.“ (1998, 27).
„It is important that the writer does the work and learns something that can be used in future writing“. (Wingate 2000, 9)
Gere (1987) suggests autonomous writing groups
which meet without lecturer/ teacher work in small groups work on writing tasks during that time
(postponing is not possible!) lecturer/teacher prepares the group
before start and only sees texts afterwards, and helps with reflective reports.
2.Writing advisor vs teacher
Writing advisors (writing of text)advise students on writing (problems)
support outside the classroom
Teachers (content of text)
supervise content & mark written work
support/expectation in the classroom
If a teacher is also a writing advisor, it is important to…
point out two different roles to students and clearly define them
discuss content and text production separately.
Another idea might be to...
Keep advising and teaching separate
For example:
students keep a leaner’s diary or portfolio on their writing, or
arrange additional meeting
There are many ways to look at writing behaviour…
one‘s writing behaviour depends on one‘s individual socialisation as writers and learners
is expressed in individual writing strategies
(Bräuer 2009)
The term writing type is
a theoretical construction to categorize individual writing behaviour.
used to describe the main tendencies according to structure
(Bräuer 2009)
We distinguish between:
producer of running prose (creates structure)
|--------------------------------------| total planner
(follows structure)
(model based on Bräuer 2009)
One who creates structure might
like to begin text production as soon as possible
create structure successively in the writing process
write to get a better understanding have flexible and inspiring process gather too much material lose overview (Bräuer 2009)
One who follows structure might
work first on structure for text which they will then follow in the writing process.
use structure of other texts aim at specific readers impress with clear structure, doesn‘t
necessarily understand what s/he writes not be able to accomodate new ideas
due to early structuring (Bräuer 2009)
3. The writing of students (& problems)
delay of writing (in a certain writing phase or area)
clash of cognitive tasks (in transitions from one writing phase to another)
gives up writing process (in a certain writing phase or area)
(Bräuer 2009)
3.1 Clashes between needs of students and advice of teachers
methods, such as
MIND MAPPING
= are useful for student writers, who like to follow a structure.
3.2 Clashes between needs of students and advice of teachers
methods for finding ideas, such as
BRAINSTORMING & FREEWRITING
= are useful for student writers, who like to start immediately and create the structure of their writing in the writing process.
Writing Strategies (Ortner 2000)
professional writers don’t follow structure suggested in handbooks
strategies are aquired and depend on individual person
10 strategies are distinguished ranging from writing in one flow
(André Breton) to writing many little pieces (Wittgenstein).
4. Discussion
How could students benefit from teacherless writing classes at the writing centre?
Thank you! [email protected]
Bibliography
Bräuer, G. (2009): Schreibberatung in Schule, Studium und Lehrberuf. Zürich: Orell Füssli.
Capossela, T.-L. (1998): The Harcourt Brace Guide to Peer Tutoring. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Elbow, P. (1973, 1998). Writing without Teachers. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elbow, P. (1997): Writing to Learn: Strategies for Assigning and Responding to Writing Across the Disciplines: New Directions for Teaching and Learning (J-B TL Single Issue Teaching and Learning).
Gere, A. R. (1987): Writing Groups. History, Theory and Implications. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois Press.
Bibliography
Girgensohn, K. (2006): „Herr der Worte“ Schreib-Erfahrungen mit deutschen Studierenden und der „Voice“-Diskurs in der amerikanischen Schreibdidaktik. In: Universitätsschriften – Schriftenreihe der Europa-Universität Viadrina, Band 24). Frankfurt (Oder).
Ortner, H. (2000): Schreiben und Denken. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Reichelt, M. (2003): Defining “good writing“. A cross-cultural perspective.In: Composition Studies, vol. 31, no.1. Pro Quest.
Wingate, M. (2000): What line? I didn’t see any line. A Tutor’s Guide: Helping Writers One to One. In: (eds) Raffoth, B. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, (p. 9-16).
