Preparing the College WriterPreparing the College WriterIssues, Problems, Proposed SolutionsIssues, Problems, Proposed Solutions

Dr. Fred KempTexas Tech University

5060, Fall 2011

Two Problems with Incoming Freshman

• They dislike writing• They lack a “critical consciousness”

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”

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)

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”)

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

Are you kidding?

The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle

The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle

Subjective Transactional

Objective Language(aesthetic)

The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle

ExpressiveDiaries, personal

RhetoricalPersuasive

Referentialinformative

LanguageLiterary

The Kinneavy Rhetorical Triangle

Sincerity and honesty

Peer Interaction

Accuracy and evidence

Style

Recapturing the Rhetorical Nature of Writing

• Give students a reader not a grader

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

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

Really Hard Advice to Follow

Really Hard Advice to Follow

• Do not use reading anthologies or reading assignments.

Really Hard Advice to Follow

• Do not use reading anthologies or reading assignments.• Do not use a textbook.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

FIN