Writing Exercises
For almost every lesson in "Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics," the text offers a space for students to apply what they've learned about English language conventions within the context of writing. Often times, these writing exercises can be found in the "Practice and Apply" section of the lesson, and other times, they can be found in the introduction to the Chapter. Although the exercises are often structured, formalistic, and prescribed, they sometimes allow room for creativity and nevertheless ask students to get writing.
For example, on page 4 of Language Network, we've seen how Chapter 1 opens up with a "Write Away: Decoder Game" activity. This first exercise is very structured, allowing little room for students to stray away from the task and what's required of them. In addition, there are writing exercises that are prescribed, asking students to work within their editing and revising skills, but with a small piece of composition they have provided. Few exercises within the grammar section invite students to elaborate on expression and draw from their own creativity; however, that might be expected because it's such a structured section of the text.
For example, on page 4 of Language Network, we've seen how Chapter 1 opens up with a "Write Away: Decoder Game" activity. This first exercise is very structured, allowing little room for students to stray away from the task and what's required of them. In addition, there are writing exercises that are prescribed, asking students to work within their editing and revising skills, but with a small piece of composition they have provided. Few exercises within the grammar section invite students to elaborate on expression and draw from their own creativity; however, that might be expected because it's such a structured section of the text.
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In this first writing exercise (Language Network 90), students are simply asked to expand upon their favorite invention. Because there are no requirements and/or specifications for the activity, other than to explain how the invention works, this particular Write Away can be used as a means of student expression, an attribute Elbow might take into consideration, but because it is a prescribed by the text and not an assignment that the class agreed to write about, Elbow might also declare this activity as one that is not "realistically accepted" in which he claims that "the right assignments are simply those that members of the class can take seriously" ("A Method of Teaching Writing" 116). Whether or not Elbow would agree with this writing activity, it nevertheless gets students to write in a way that is free from expectation and specifications. They don't have to worry about any particular guidelines and are absolutely at the hand of their own views and feelings about writing; They have the power to take the conventions in this lesson and apply them where they see fit.
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This activity is titled: Proofreading. There are two main phases within the proofreading stage: editing and revising. But the difference between the two is the level of intellectual construction and reconstruction. Editing, as NCTE's article, "Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing" suggests that editing "is only essential for the words that are left after all the cutting, replacing, rewriting, and adding that go on during revision." According to Linda Flower and John R. Hayes in their essay, "The Cognition of Discovery: Defining a Rhetorical Problem," they argue that the process of revision, or what Language Network partially classifies as "Proofreading," is not just about editing. "Editing" on the sentence-level focuses students' attention towards the formality of their writing--not the content. Flower and Hayes conducted a research study of experienced versus novice writers in which they inquired how the writers deal and respond to their rhetorical situation. They found that
"Good writers respond to all aspects of the rhetorical problem. As they compose, they build a unique representation not only of their audience and assignment, but also of their goals involving the audience, their own persona, and the text. By contrast, the problem representations of poor writers were concerned primarily with the features and conventions of a written text, such as number of pages or magazine format" (474).
"Good writers respond to all aspects of the rhetorical problem. As they compose, they build a unique representation not only of their audience and assignment, but also of their goals involving the audience, their own persona, and the text. By contrast, the problem representations of poor writers were concerned primarily with the features and conventions of a written text, such as number of pages or magazine format" (474).
The problems within these proofreading exercises of Language Network are the misleading notions that these elements of proofreading on the sentence level are "revision" when in fact, revision is a much more sophisticated and complex process that is on-going throughout the entire writing process and involves finding a problem within the student's writing and requires them to further tweak it in order to reconstruct and enhance their thought process.