Module 12

Writing Tutor Module

 

The unsuitability of a concentration on formalist concerns, primarily that of grammatical correctness, is evident in our own time with the negative associations that are the baggage of current-traditionalist pedagogy. The inefficacy of teaching local grammatical concerns over global rhetorical ones became evident, according to composition theorist Robert Connors, in the 1950s and the 1960s. Prior to that time, from about 1874 when the Harvard entrance written examinations were first administered until the twentieth-century, a focus on grammatical and formal correctness of language took precedence and permeated English departments to the extent that rhetoric became subsumed under written composition. Composition theorists and instructors of the late twentieth- and the early twenty-first centuries have worked diligently to diminish the focus on mechanical correctness and to replace that emphasis with global rhetorical concerns, such as argumentative content, audience awareness, organization, etc. However, issues pertaining to grammatical correctness cannot be completely dismissed in a tutoring session, and tutors should consider what strategies presented by Muriel Harris in "Strategies for Teaching One-to-One" would be effective in tutoring not only global concerns but mechanical correctness as well.

Here is a link to the Document: Teaching Strategies Document

After reading Harris's "Strategies for Teaching One-to-One," please click on the link to answer the quiz questions:

Tutor Quiz 12 (Writing)