Errors and Expectations: Chapter 8

Expectations

"Writing is something writers are always learning to do" (276).

We come now to the end of the book, where Shaughnessy discusses the realities of teaching basic writers in the college setting. First, based on her research, she has found some reassuring evidence that "…we can expect within a semester of instruction a clear indication of control over errors in punctuation and grammar, provided this is a feature of instruction either in the class or in conferences. Errors will remain, but for most students the errors should begin to appear residual rather than dominant" (276). This is in direct contrast, however, to some of the experiences we may have had in our classrooms, experiences where we leave the semester wondering if our students learned anything at all about grammar. Something to note in this case, though, is that even for those students who have become more comfortable dealing with objective sentence-level errors (but maybe have not made huge strides in eradicating these errors), the tone of their writing often becomes more confident (278). There are also students who may not appear to improve markedly over the course of the semester, but they may experience a positive overall shift in attitude towards writing (280).

Shaughnessy notes that it’s important for students to have continuous experience with writing courses beyond the developmental along with further writing opportunities in other classes. Unfortunately, "…should their fragile competence go unattended and unpracticed for a semester or two, the students would most likely be back almost where they had started" (283). Some of us have seen this in students who have been in our developmental classes, passed, and then show up in a class like Composition I a year later, seeming to have forgotten everything they were doing well in their developmental course (indeed, for some students, this forgetting can happen over the three-week winter break!). The idea here is basic: students who struggle with writing must keep practicing to build on and retain their skills.

Remember, there is no One Answer when it comes to the question of what works best to teach developmental students because of the myriad variables in student, student error, reasons behind error, teachers, teaching styles and pedagogies, institutional expectations, and the difficulty of the language itself. Because of these variables, we should look forward to learning as many strategies as possible and be kind to ourselves, recognizing the limitation of time that can work against our teaching (284).

When we think about what material we are going to cover in our classes, Shaughnessy suggests that we look at those concepts from four perspectives:

1. What is the goal of instruction? Is it awareness, improvement, or mastery? (286)
2. What is the best method of instruction? (287)
3. What is the best mode of instruction—the most effective social organization and the best technology? (287)
4. How do the individual items of instruction relate to one another? Where do they come in a sequence of instruction and how much time can be allowed for each? (287)

She ends on a positive note about the types of students we can expect in our classes:

"Capable because of their maturity of observing the processes they are going through as learners, they can alert us easily and swiftly to the effects of instruction. They work, in this sense, collaboratively with teachers in ways that are impossible with child learners. In a hurry, also, to learn what we have to teach them, they press us to discover the most efficient ways of presenting what we would have them understand" (291).

Our students want us to be better teachers, and through their experiences, we are also forced to examine and be critical of our academic institution as well as those from which they have come (292). The key is to look at our developmental students as being capable of learning to be more effective writers, and if we do that, we will be forced to become better teachers (292).