Tuesday, October 2, 2007

College Composition and Communication. September 2007.

Some ideas on teaching English from the journal College Composition and Communication, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

What to do about plagiarism?
Have students discuss their problems with a student board--especially if the student is from another culture. E Whitaker. CCC (Sept. 07), 125-127.

What do we do about the increasing number of students speaking varieties of English?
Review of three books dealing with the problem of vernacular "Englishes," including African American Vernacular English, Indian English, Philippine English, Caribbean Creole English, Hawaiian Pidgin, West African Pidgin English, Spanglish and Tex-Mex English. Reviewed ideas are general and not very helpful. Main problem is how to bridge the gap between out-of-school English and academic English in the classroom. C Severino. CCC (Sep. 07), 128-138.

How valid is scoring compositions by machine?
Review of Machine Scoring of Student Essays: Truth and Consequences by PF Ericsson and Richard Haswell, editors. 1006. Variety of contributors. No easy answers. Gives information and research on machine scoring. The big question: machine scoring for what reason? The usefulness of machine scoring of essays depends on the the answer to that question. C Rutz. CCC (Sep. 07), 139-144.

Other topics: 1. The role of the writing clinic. 2. On the history of rhetoric in the writing program at the University of Chicago. 3. A study related to teaching learning disabled students in freshman English. 4. Much ado and mumbo jumbo on saying the right thing at the right time. 5. Discussion of the working conditions of adjunct writing instructors. 6. The self-doubts regarding teaching and scholarship of four women who have earned their doctorates. The problem is rooted in their mothers.

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