Basic Writing

Shaughnessy makes a lot of important parts when she discusses the Basic Writing course for the many freshman who are entering college because of the new open admissions policy’s being instated around the country in the 1970’s and today. The first important point she makes is about the type of students that we are referring to in the Basic Writing course, “BW students write the way they do, not because they are slow or non-verbal, indifferent to or incapable of academic excellence, but because they are beginners and must like all beginners, learn by making mistakes.” (pg390) Before the times of open admission the freshman students entering college were the students that had been taught to write for college and were expected to attend a university upon graduation after high school. Many students today entering the college classroom have not had this training in high school, because traditionally they are not on a “college prep track” for reasons we do not know at this time. So, when we are discussing the students that are entering our college composition classrooms it is important for us to remember that not all of the students are going to be at the same level or at the level that we expect them to be when they first enter college. In short we are talking about the remedial students who for whatever reason are deciding after high school to enter college rather than the workforce. It is not fair to write these students off, because we do not know their circumstances before entering college. Many may have had home lives that did not allow them to pursue upper level courses or be ESL students who are still learning the language. All of the students have the ability to succeed if they want too and it is up to us as teachers to take time to help them.
Shaugnessy also points out that the errors these students are making in their papers cannot be linked to a specific issue such as always using one particular tense. Many of the errors are due to confusion about the use of language. It is important to not ignore these errors, because by totally ignoring the errors the writers never improve and become better writers. It is also important to not just point out the errors, but to help the students determine why they are continually making these errors. What I have taken from this personally is that it is important for me as a teacher to not simply find all of the errors and slap an F on the paper, but to take time to work with the student to figure out why they are making the errors to help them become more sophisticated writers. I frequently have students have other countries in my class who are very intelligent, but who struggle with the English language. It is my job to help them learn to become better writers and speakers by correcting their errors whether in oral or written communication. The question is what is the best way to do this? I think it is important to not overwhelm the students by pointing out every single error every time, but it is important to take it a step at a time and tackle a few errors at a time and correct as we go through the school year. This may not be as easy to do when you only have one semester to work with the students, but if they are in remedial classes then perhaps this would be a viable option for the classroom over multiple semesters if you are working with a vertical team.