ENGLISH 221: Theories of Composing, Tutoring, and Teaching

Fall 2009, Thursdays, 4:15-6:45, VM 202
Instructor: Arnie Sanders
Department of English
Goucher College [Last Revised: 06 November, 2009 01:51:43 PM]

N.B., recent changes, 11/6/09-- Collaborative Research Group conference schedule Preliminary Topic Ideas and Possible Participants

Link to Collaborative Research Project Resources Page (including previous project title list)

Flynn/Lu/Love What's my role in a collaborative research group?

        The "great divide" between tutor-centered and writer-centered authority--is it absolute or relative, unidirectional or circular?  Here's what Michel Foucault says.  What kinds of power relationship can exist in tutor-writer relationships?

        Carrie asked about whether tutors should just "correct" students' punctuation when they see obvious errors.  North would decry this as the dreaded "fix-it shop" idea of tutoring, but in truth there must be times when simply showing students how semi-colons work, in general, can be aided by showing them how they work in their own sentences to produce better or worse readings of their ideas.  The difficulty arises when the tutor's control over punctuation comes to determine what the ideas actually are.  Discussions of what the writers are really trying to say should precede discussions of how they are saying it (i.e., grammar, punctuation, spelling) because otherwise the tutor has no way to anticipate what hidden message the textual code is really trying to transmit. 

        For next week's bibliographic annotation, I've moved an enhanced set of print resources on Lev Vygotsky's work, including book chapters by and about his work on language acquisition and language operations, to this web page.

        Check it out--an online journal about this stuff at U. Texas: http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/

        If you are a Goucher student and are interested in taking the course, see the web page for Admission to English 221 and Becoming a Writing Center Tutor and browse the links in the menu below.

The Course

        English 221 explores the composing process from a variety of approaches, including training as a peer tutor (some practice tutoring required, but students are not required to seek Writing Center employment).  Students will study the composing process carefully and discover how their processes differ from the processes of others. We will study the physical, mental, and social systems which affect writing. We also will learn how research on composition is conducted and will undertake some research of our own.  Though we may study the writing behaviors of famous authors or young children, the composing processes typical of academic writers will be our foremost concern.  Understanding the struggles of college-level writers will allow us to assist them as peer tutors and to improve our own writing, as well.

Reset 8/30/04