quote:Of course . . . philosophical resistance to literature in the composition classroom has had much to do with academic politics. Since the end of World War II, when unprecedented numbers of students began entering American colleges and universities, the sudden demand (and need) for instruction in composition has strained the financial and intellectual resources of English departments, divisions, and entire campuses, increasingly dividing English departments into those who teach lower-division composition and those who teach (and pursue scholarship in) literature and other fields the department deems worthy of specialized study. Typically composed of part-timers and graduate students, and so not a faculty in the strict sense, the first group is responsible for teaching the majority of English classes but rarely receives the recognition and professional advancement that they believe they deserve. On the other side of the divide has been the literary faculty, which has periodically expressed a distrust of intellectual and financial investments in composition when those investments seem to threaten the integrity of established studies. Many English faculty have resisted an obligation to teach what they consider to be a remedial or merely practical art. Or conversely, they have taught composition courses in such a way that they became literary or theory courses unconcerned with students’ progress as writers.
Why that's a bad thing:
quote:Unskilled readers are frequently poor writers. Lacking experience with the ways other writers shape ideas, they cannot revise their work because they cannot read it for significance.
And a suggestion for change that applies to all of us:
quote: Since literature draws readers into these worlds of meaning more fully and effectively than any other kinds of texts, it would seem that some form of literary education is crucial to the task of learning to write, especially for struggling students.
quote:Is thinking a passive state? Might not appreciation of good writing be a crucial factor in learning to write? The desire to imitate, answer, and write variations upon certain types of writing would seem to be enhanced by an admiration of the best qualities of those types, particularly when the encounter with literature is linked with appropriate exercises and assignments.
Read the whole thing.
Cameron
[This message has been edited by ccwbass (edited February 05, 2004).]
posted
English Literature vs. English Compostion. Is this seeking the solution too late in the learning chain? How about revamping a vigorous English grammar study?
From an online definition of syntax:
quote: Syntax incorporates the grammar of phrases, clauses, and sentences. Producing and uttering sentences is an important part of how we make sense of our world. We articulate the meaning of our experience in words; in the process of articulate, we make (or discover) the meaning of the experience. This process is similar to the ways in which we intrepret literature.
The syntax the exact structure of what we write is an essential part of its meaning. Change the structure and you have changed the meaning, at least slightly.
"This process is similar to the ways in which we intrepret literature."
quote:we all interpret as we read. To read (at least with understanding and appreciation) is to interpret.
Syntax is the essence of writing composition, and is key to reading interpretation. Syntax goes deep into the mechanics of writing, from grammar to style to the relationships of all the parts to the whole. Resurrected emphasis on diagramming sentences alone would go a long way toward helping students see the relationships of words, clauses and phrases.
As an adult literacy volunteer, I have a student who never diagrammed a sentence. This is the third student I've had who can read but not fully comprehend what (s)he reads. The co-ordinator of our literacy group reports getting more and more adults in the same situation, and admits we're not set up to deal with them.
English Literature vs. English Composition? Both are threatened if students are reading without comprehension.
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