I've been grading, and grading, and grading, and grading. You know what has taken most of the time in grading? Proofreading. Yep, correcting spelling, grammar, syntax, organization, paragraph breaks, and the usual. I can scarcely get through a single paper without almost re-writing it for the grammatical errors.
I suggest to them to proofread, to at least run the darn thing through spell- and grammar-check. Those features, however, can't tell when a sentence should use "their" or "there," plural "s" or apostrophe "s," and the whole host of creeping bad grammar that has infected language at every turn. So, I suggest that they run their papers by a friend or pretty much anyone else, just to let a second set of eyes catch any oddities. The English teachers like to call this "peer review."
The problem, however, lies in the "peers" doing the reviewing. You see, I think that many of them actually do proofread their papers. The problem is that they don't know enough proper grammar in the first place to know if that "they're" should be a "their," even when they are forbid contractions. Having a peer review their paper? Well, that is tantamount to the blind leading the blind. Their peers do not have any better a grasp of language than they do, which is the reason that I'm a bit suspicious of peer-review in the first place, unless you have some really stellar students in the mix. Even then, they are not seen as examples to which they can aspire, but exceptions who have some special circumstance that makes them perform better.
I have one colleague who will only proofread a paragraph. Then he makes a note in the margins to the effect that they should get someone to proofread and help them correct their issues with the language.
Who are they going to go to? The writing center flat-out refuses to proofread. Their friends are in the same condition as they are. They can't necessarily count on their families to help, either, especially if they are of that 1.5 generation of immigrant children or immigrants, or if they are the first in their family to go to college. That's often the case.
Between teaching them to use a computer, the software, how to write an essay, how to search a database, where the library is and that they might consider using books, what evidence looks like, and the actual content of the course, I really don't have time to conduct grammar lessons. Really! So, I proofread.
Then, I have to go read some clear prose, so mine doesn't deteriorate. Bad grammar is much like a virus. It spreads through exposure.
I'm hoping that good grammar spreads the same way.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
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11 comments:
Boy, does this sound familiar! Of course, I quit bleeding all over papers a few years back. I realized (and was assured) that after the first shock of all the writing all over their papers, they simply ignored it. I've tried all kinds of things: doing a single paragraph, refusing to accept the thing without proof of an outside reader (a lesson in futility for your very reasons), peer review, writing center guidance (ours says they'll proof things, but sign off on the most horrific things), attaching a list w/codes to indicate the most common errors (with internal annotations as to which # they've committed)... it's awful.
I did find an answer to the age-old 'but it's a history class, not an English class!' I tell them: 'You don't truly know something until you can communicate it clearly and effectively. When your reader can't figure out what you're saying, you haven't done your job.' While that bit silenced the complaint, it did not improve their papers.
My conclusion: they read so little they don't see the problems because they've likely not seen the correct way enough for it to sink in. And that is very very depressing.
Proofreading isn't the purpose of a college Writing Center. The purpose of a Writing Center at a University is to basically backfill years of inadequate English preparation and attempt to teach grammar to those who should have learned it years ago. In addition, most tutors who work in such places are undergraduates of the same college-- in other words, if we took student papers, proofread them, and handed them back, that would be plagiarism.
This is all without even addressing the problems specific to working at a school with a large ESL population and professors who don't understand what that means.
When a student from China, whose English is very good but who acquired it as a teenager and will therefore never be without a written "accent," comes to me in tears because rather than address any of the ideas in her (well-researched, well-thought-out, and yes, well-written) paper, her professor has chosen to circle every misused article and write "clean up your grammar or I'm not reading this!" something is very wrong. And this is the norm.
I don't know what the solution is. I understand your frustration. I also realize that you school may not, like mine, have a substantial ESL population. But the Writing Center is not the problem.
I apologize if I sounded like I was blaming the Writing Center. It isn't their fault. Goodness knows that they are overworked just helping with the overall writing, which is the reason that they can't do proofreading, or offer any help with basic grammar such as helping the student do their own proofreading by helping them figure out what is wrong with their own grammar.
We actually have a HUGE ESL population, and a whole writing program to go with it. The students make leaps and bounds in it, but that doesn't mean that they come out entirely familiar with English grammar. They need constant work, as native speakers do, but how can they get it -- where can they get it -- and still get a college education?
that's a common theme i heard from professors during my undergrad. i, and other students my age, were constantly inundated with pleas to proof read papers. i did 2 and then refused. there are lots of books in the library that can teach them basic grammar and punctuation. i told them to read the user manual (so to speak). none were foreign or 1st generation canadian students. i had only one ask me (from eretria) and i had to refuse as i had 2 papers and 2 research projects due.
sadly, it went beyond grammar but to the ability to compose a sentence, how to write a paragraph that makes sense and how to organize a paper. none of that is taught in school anymore.
contractions weren't allowed in our papers. professors did it as a way to try and prepare students for writing for academic peer review journals. they don't allow them either.
students who know their grammar and punctuation would make a killing if they advertised services for paper review.
In some classes, I have students do a proofreading exercise before they turn in papers (in addition to peer review, which isn't really about proofreading). It takes about half an hour or so once they get the hang of it, but I like to fantasize that it actually helps them learn.
1) I bring in bunches of little stickypads.
2) The students pair up, and proofread the other person's paper. They have to start at the end of the paper, and read backwards one sentence at a time.
3) When they think there's a problem, they put a sticky piece ono the page, and write a note.
4) When they get their essay back, they can
--make the recommended change
--choose not to make the change
--ask me
They just write neatly in pencil or ink. Mostly it works pretty well, but it does take time.
Sing it, sister. I have huge frustrations with the generally abysmal quality of writing I see from people who are otherwise articulate and intelligent. It goes well beyond poor spelling and grammar to being unable to write a complete sentence that clearly states your point, let alone argues it persuasively.
I don't know what the answer is, but I think it is the marker of a big gap that has opened up in primary/secondary school education.
My heart goes out to you!
The only solution is to send the students back in time machines and tell them to read! read! read!
Bad writers are non-readers.
In other words, there's really nothing you can do about it. How depressing.
(I had to do a number of peer reviews in college. I hated it. I have no idea how professors ever get through all the reading they have to do because it's so gawd-awful.)
Good idea, Bardiac!
This is a real problem for me, too, and the students complain about the peer reviews. But they certainly need proofing help.
I agree with everyone who said that it's a reading problem as well as a writing problem you're up against. I never had much patience for high-school grammar lessons: even then, I knew that I had learned to write through reading, and didn't really care to know the details about the grammar rules. Stuff either "sounds" right or it doesn't, and readers have better eyes and "ears" than non-readers.
I'm with your colleague, in that I'll aggressively mark a page or so, and then just circle the rest of the problems I come across. My gauge for this kind of work is this: I won't spend more time proofreading or rewriting their papers than they did. I won't care more about their work than they did. If students are really working on their writing, then I'll meet them more than halfway.
But, my guess is that 80% of your students just look at the grade on the back page, and they don't bother to learn from all of those helpful suggestions you've put inside their papers. So long as the grade is acceptable to them, they don't care how you arrived at it. (This is why I think it's a mistake to over-correct their language.)
Historiann.com
I was pleased to see that you help your students by showing them library databases, give them pointers on how to use them (like how to choose good search terms and use the database features to get good results), and encourage them on using books and how to find them. We see many students that come in and say "my professor told me to look at this book" but they have no idea how to find the book using the library catalog. So any professor who can show this in class is doing them a service. This may seem like a chore that isn't part of your job, and I'm sure you could ask one of your librarians to come to your class to demonstrate all this, but believe me, when you show it to them they are much more likely to listen and pay attention than if a librarian came to your class to show them. The research supports this. Students are far more influenced by their faculty than they are by librarians.
I am the point where I proofread one paragraph and GRADE down for errors, grammatical AND proofreading. The rubric clearly shows what portion of the grade derives from these errors. That seems to get their attention.
Sadly I have also cut out papers in survey and instead focus on document analysis. If my choice is teaching historical content or writing, I choose the former :)
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