2/4 - Basic Writing Theory

"But as we come to know these students better, we begin to see that the greatest barrier to our work with them is our ignorance of them and of the very subject we have contracted to teach." (Shaughnessy 317)

“…[W]e need to look closely at these claims and at the theories used to support them, for both the theories and the claims lead to social distinctions that have important consequences, political as well as educational…Social and political hierarchies end up encoded in sweeping cognitive dichotomies.” (Rose 346)

"The rising tide of discourse on plagiarism does not necessarily indicate a rising tide of plagiarism." (Zwagerman 678)

• What is “Basic Writing”?
• What is wrong with current models/scales of student writing development, according to Shaughnessy?
• Define each of the four stages of her “developmental scale” for basic writing teachers? What question does the teacher ask at each stage?
• What are the problems with applying the following theories to writing development:
• Cognitive style: field dependence-independence
• Hemisphericity
• Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
• Theories of orality-literacy
• 
  What is a “behaviorist approach to writing”?
• What is the problem with defining writing as a “skill”? 
• What is the problem with associating the term “remedial” with writing ability?
• What’s problematic about saying college students are “illiterate”?
• What is the “myth of transience”?
• What steps does Rose recommend to change discourse on writing instruction in higher education?
• How does Bartholomae define “basic writers”?
• What are the stages of development of the academic writer, according to B.?
• What research method did B. use in this paper?
• How might B’s notion of “commonplaces” be applied to the teaching of academic writing/style?
• What are some "reductions" and problematic assumptions in the "war on plagiarism"?
• What are some problems with electronic plagiarism detection services?
• What motiviates cheating?
• What are some alternate/successful models for basic writing instruction (Goen Salter, Glau)?
• What are some ways to measure writing success/effectiveness in college?