When thinking about what proper English is, typically English spoken in professional settings and in classrooms is what comes to mind. The problem with this thought is that it creates a dynamic that this English is the standard and anything that doesn’t fall inline with this is inferior. How can we determine which form of English is grammatically correct? Surely there are forms of English that are considered to be inferior to Standard American English, like African American English (sometimes called black english, Ebonics, broken English, or slang). But why is this dialect considered less to Standard American English? It’s important to understand that African American English does not follow the grammatical rules of standard American English, but follows the grammatical rules West African Languages, and therefore cannot be considered an inferior type of English because, linguistically speaking, it is a different language.

          According to linguistics, a language is categorized by grammar structure and not by vocabulary. To explain the difference between grammar and vocabulary in language, Jennifer Cunningham states, “English is considered a Germanic language because its grammar follows Germanic rules, even though its vocabulary is largely French and Latin. Likewise, African American Language is more grammatically African than English, even though its vocabulary is English. Therefore, it follows logically that African American Language ought to be considered linguistically…an African language” (Cunningham, 89). Understanding that African American English does not follow the grammatical rules of Standard American English, helps realize that these are in fact two grammatically separate languages, and cannot be compared to one another. In her book Talkin’ and Testifyin’, Geneva Smitherman breaks down the parallel between the grammar and structure rules in west African languages and of African American English. She points out the repetition of noun subject with pronouns, such as, “My father, he work there.”, and using the same verb form for all subjects, “I know; he know; we know; they know”(Smitherman, 6-7). This examples shows how the structure of the language does not coincide with that of Germanic languages, but of languages from West African tribes such as Ibo, Yoruba, and Hausa. African American English came to be because slaves had to apply their knowledge of West African grammatical rules and English vocalublary to bridge the gap and communicate with their masters. They adopted the English vocabulary and applied them to a different language thus creating a new language what is known as African American English, which still hold influence today. Smitherman also demonstrates how the African American English has evolved over centuries in the United States, and how the structure of the language remained the same. For example, throughout the evolution of the language, there are still sentence patterns that don’t use any form of the verb to be, which is commonly found in West African languages.

• He tell me he God. Barbados, 1692
• Me massa name Cunney Tomsee. (My master’s name is Colonel Thompson.) U.S., 1776
• What dis in heah? (What is this in here?) U.S., 1859
• But what de matter with Jasper? (But what is the matter with Jasper?) U.S., 1882
(Smitherman, 9).

Looking at this from a Standard American English point of view, one would argue that this grammatically incorrect, which would be a correct argument. But looking at the structure of these sentences from a West African language pint of view, these sentences are grammatically correct. This is why understanding the origins of a language is imperative to understanding how sentences are formed, and how the language is spoken.

          African American English is a language entirely different from the Standard American English that is spoken in professional environments, in classrooms and in textbooks. This language was created for the survival of African slaves in the Americas, and over centuries has evolved into a language that is an entire culture. Author of the novel Manchild in the Promised Land, Claude Brown calls this language, “language of soul”, and is appropriately named. This language was somehow able to keep the essence of its origins while taking on an entirely new vocabulary, to create something that has survived for centuries. When comparing Standard American English to Black American English, there is no comparison. They cannot be compared to each other because they are two different languages with two different origins, that happen to share the same vocabulary. This would be like trying to compare the Oromo language from Ethiopia to Mandarin from China, or French to Tagalog from the Philippines. It is impossible to compare one language to another is the standards are different, and the the structures are different. Also, how can anyone determine how “good” a language is? If the message is being delivered and is understood, who is say that a language is good or bad? One is not inferior to the other, so in regard to the original question, is African American English good English? The answer is yes, it is good English.

Sources

Cunningham, M. Jennifer, “African American Language is not Good English.” Bad ideas about writing, West Virginia University Libraries, 2017, pp.88-92.

Smitherman, G. (1977). “Talkin’ and Testifyin’”.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. pp.6-9.

Brown, C. (1966). “Manchild in the promised land”. Burwood, N.S.W.: Royal Blind Society of New South Wales.

Reading and writing are the two essential skills to communicate and to be successful in school. The idea that reading and writing are not connected is one of the bad ideas that people often believe. In “Reading and Writing Are Not Connected” essay, Ellen Carillo explains why this is a bad idea and what she thinks is a better idea. She thinks that it is better when reading and writing taught for students commonly. Reading and writing are connected through the process of learning and they have close relationship. Many studies have shown the connection between reading and writing, and how these two work together.

The way we speak is very different from the way we write. Developing writing and reading experiences can help the ability to make a good argument on a variety of subjects. Writing is simply an output, and reading is an input. Someone will be writing for somebody else to read it and share their thoughts with others. In “Reading and Writing Are Not Connected,” Ellen Carillo refutes the idea that reading and writing are two separate skills, “are not connected”: “What is often neglected in these public debates about the best way to teach literacy at the college level is that reading and writing are connected practices and, as such, the best way to teach them is together. It is a bad idea to continue privileging writing at the expense of reading” (Carillo 38).  

Instructors want the student to read an essay or article and they require to write about it and understand the theme of the text. In this way, the student practices reading and writing skill. when reading and writing are taught together, students will become better thinkers. Normally, reading and writing occur at the same time. The student comes up with some ideas after they read something in class. As Carillo suggests “Teaching reading and writing together will help students become more proficient in both” (Carillo 41). This is where Carillo supports the idea that reading and writing should be taught together. This helps the students to put ideas together and have critical thinking. Students get a lot of information from what they read from a book or other resources. They interact with their own life experience or might be a new idea for them what they just read. Reading helps the student to see on their own perspective or to change their mind about something that they already know. 

Most logicians recommend that people read and practice writing. David Bloome the author of “Reading, Writing, and Learning in the Classroom” says that “Reading is typically viewed as used for gaining information. One reads a book in order to gain information to do so” (Bloome 23). Readers might have many reasons why they prefer reading. Many writers read a lot of information before they start writing. They must sit on the chair and gather more information about what they want to write about.

Reading is one way to interact with the writer. It gives a chance to be able to understand what the writer is trying to say. As Carillo says “Although writing is more often thought of as a creative act, reading is just as creative” (Carillo 40). The writer talks his/her reader through their work. Writers are idea creators; they create a view and the reader job is to take the view in their perspective and learn from it.  

Mariolina Salvatori an author of “Reading in the Teaching of Composition” essay describes the relationship of reading and writing by saying “reading and writing are interconnected” (Salvatori 446). Salvatori uses this term to show the relationship between reading and writing. He also discusses the purpose when the students practice reading and writing at the same time. Salvatori supports the idea of teaching reading and writing together for students.

  Generally, all student should exercise reading and writing at the same time and they should stop thinking about these two things are separate. If a student wants to become successful in school or anywhere around the world, then it is better to practice reading and writing simultaneously. A writer puts his/her works out there for us and then it is our job to put those things together and answer these questions what, how, why and where. 

                                        Work Cited 

Adler-Kassner, Linda and Estrem, Heidi. “Reading Practices in the Writing Classroom.” 2005. http://www.wpacouncil.org/archives/31n1-2/31n1-2adler-kassner-estrem.pdf  

Bloome, David, and Erine Theodorou. “Reading, Writing, and Learning in the Classroom.” Peabody Journal of Education, vol. 62, no. 3, 1985, pp. 20–43. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1492584. 

Carillo, Ellen. “Open Access Textbooks.” Bad Ideas About Writing | Open Access Textbooks | WVU Libraries, 2017, textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/index.html. 

Cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.gsu.edu/dist/0/12196/files/2019/04/leather-bound-books.jpg [Accessed 29 Apr. 2019].

“Free Image on Pixabay – Book, Reading, Read, Glasses.” Book Reading Read – Free Photo on Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/book-reading-read-glasses-2435583/. 

Salvatori, M. (1996). Conversations with texts: Reading in the teaching of composition. College English, 58(4), 440. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/236927120?accountid=11226 

There are various myths about good writing and bad writing techniques.  The teaching ideas about writing are presented by Ball and Drew in their book. There are various misconceptions about writing and each misconception may bring different problems for writers. “Bad ideas about writing” is considered one of the most important books to be used for the purposes of changing the misconceptions.  The various misconceptions brought concerning the idea of writing involving official American English is the best, teaching grammar improves writing, African American language is not good English, formal outlines are always useful, machines can evaluate writing well, anyone can teach writing, texting ruins students grammar skills and five paragraph essay transmits knowledge (Ball and Drew). Such misconceptions are major and they may affect the quality of the writing materials.  The aim of the research is to provide a wealth of knowledge on good ideas needed in putting to an end to the dangerous myth of how to improve on writing down expressions. That is important in improving the skills of the writers because the basic ideas provided to them helps in focusing on the text and the analyzing of different events.

Bad Ideas about Writing

Credit: https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf

Writing has to be open and every person has to be provided with an equal capability to write. The skills related to writing can also be used to create better readers because of the focus generated (Valdez). Writing has to be exposed to all people and the capabilities not only belong to the gifted people, but they also belong to the self-taught too. The connection established in writing is developed through the love of content and the love of passing on knowledge from one entity to the other. Stereotyping on who is good writers has been rampant in the writing society because most of the ideas passed show that good writers should have specific characteristics. Anyone can be a good writer and most of them can be taught too. Most people have a misconception that only geniuses can write and that most of the writers are mythical and damaged people (Ball and Drew). That amplifies the belief that the writers should have specific characteristics to enable them to be ranked higher. There is only one correct way of writing and speaking according to the misconceptions of writing. That cannot be true because there are different techniques and processes used in writing. The writing techniques are developed from the desire of changing the writing to suit the technological changes and developments in different forms of presenting ideas.

Strong Writing and Writers Don’t Need Revision

According to Laura Giovanelli in “Strong writing and writers don’t need revision”, revision is the writing process and therefore there is need to have constant revisions to enhance the writing skills.  The writers take the revision activities as the process of changing the grammar and the punctuations and reading through the entire document after writing (Giovanelli). However, the entire writing process is composed of various revisions making the accomplishment of the writing goals possible. An ideal reader is the one who takes the aspects of revision into consideration and makes them work. The revision strategies adopted have to be effective in making the writing better. The writing process of most writers should put into consideration the various mistakes and it should be written to precisions while meeting all the instructions.  Revision according to the writing is a process composed of the heavy lifting of the work through establishing a clear purpose of why a person is writing, who the person is writing for and the arrangement of the work logically to meet the requirements.  That helps in forming a better revision and avoid the famous misconception that the strong writings and writers do not need revision in their work.

Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies

According to Wardle, the various misconceptions about writing can be solved through the threshold concepts.  The core principles of knowledge and writing studies have to be done through the threshold concepts (Kassner and Wardle). That would be effective in making the learning activities better. The concepts provided are important because they provide a wealth of information about writing into small good packages. The big ideas about writing are also passed through the writing techniques. That is important in generating sufficient knowledge about writing and its importance to the various people especially the librarians. The concepts of writing are mostly addressed through the book because there is an elaboration of the freedom provided to the writers in compiling the different texts (Kassner and Wardle). The writers can be good through the ways they build themselves from reading different texts. The connection between reading and writing can be established by developing a passion. 

The creation of better writing ideas is highly dependent on understanding the contents and the language to be used. The analysis of the content and development of ideas freely would also be helpful to most writers in their compositions. It is important to have good writing skills far from basic misconceptions. That would be important in making the writers feel better in expressing their main ideologies. 

/.

Work cited

Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2015.

Ball, Cheryl E. and Drew M. Loewe. Bad Ideas About Writing. Morgantown: West Virginia University, 2017.

Giovanelli, Laura. “Strong Writing and Writers Don’t Need Revision .” Ball, Cheryl E. and Drew M. Loewe. Bad Ideas About wrIting. Morgantown: West Virginia University Libraries, 2017, pp. 104-108.

Valdez, Katherine. “Drop what you’re writing if you have a better idea.” 23 January 2015. Coloradoan. 22 April 2019. Retrieved from https://www.coloradoan.com/story/life/2015/01/24/drop-writing-better-idea/22250577/.

It’s a reasonable question that deserves an honest answer. It needs to be addressed quickly, because a student who doesn’t see the point isn’t going to care, and a student who doesn’t care is a student who doesn’t learn. In the essay collection Bad Ideas about Writing, Andrew Hollinger’s bad idea is answering this question with “you’re going to need this for college.”

Hollinger says this is a bad answer for many reasons. For starters, it’s evading the question, just another way of saying “Because I said so” (Hollinger, pp. 333), and it “passes on the responsibility for meaningfulness to the next level of education.” He goes on to say that it tells the student that you don’t care, so they shouldn’t either (Hollinger, pp. 334), and for those students who aren’t planning to go to college? You’ve just given them explicit permission to check out (Hollinger, pp. 335). Further, it’s often inaccurate. The five-paragraph essay might get you through the admissions process, but it doesn’t hold up in a college setting.

A better idea, simply put, is to give a real answer. Alas, nothing in life is simple.

Students vs. the English Department

The titular question is not unique to high school English teachers, but English teachers have a harder time answering it than other departments. A math teacher has it relatively easy, as math builds upon itself in very visible ways, and it crosses over to the college setting unchanged. Not so with writing.

In their study “Writing in High School/Writing in College: Research Trends and Future Directions.”, Joanne Addison and Sharon James McGee found that “College and high school faculty across the curriculum are generally aligned with one another when it comes to prewriting, clear expectations, and good instructor practices.” but they found less “informal, exploratory writing” and less student to student interaction regarding writing in college than in high school (Addison and McGee, pp. 157). High school and college writing teachers superficially agree on how they should teach the writing process, but there are differences in how they do. And in this regard, it seems that high school teachers are doing better.

If teachers teach differently, it seems reasonable to conclude that their students will write differently. Why do high school and college writing teachers teach differently? College professors generally aren’t required to have as much education on how to teach than high school teachers do. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that high school writing teachers more closely adhere to established pedagogy, though this cannot account for all the differences. If students’ writing reflects how their teachers want them to write, then it would follow that, according to established pedagogy, the high school students write better than the college students.

This is not the case. Any successful college student will tell you that the way you learned to write in high school will not serve you well in college. From this chain of logic, it seems that the established pedagogy about writing does not help students in a practical sense, and college students are a pragmatic bunch. This could be another part of why they oftentimes disdain required writing courses such as First Year Composition (often abbreviated to FYC).

Linda S. Bergmann and Janet Zepernick make inquiries into how college students view their English courses in “Disciplinarity and Transfer: Students’ Perceptions of Learning to Write.” The students they surveyed often told them that it seems like college faculty don’t think FYC is particularly important. Their reasoning? First, it’s relatively easy for incoming freshmen to bypass FYC with dual enrollment credits or good SAT scores. Second, FYC courses are some of the least standardized courses in the curriculum (Bergmann and Zepernick, pp. 130). What you get depends almost entirely on the professor. It leads to the question: “What, then, is the point of this class? The school doesn’t seem to know, and the professors all have different ideas. Maybe there isn’t a point.”

Bergmann and Zepernick also found that students see writing for English as different from writing in disciplinary courses. They see it as personal and interpretive, while they see writing for say, engineering courses, as being graded solely on content. They do not think the skills learned in English classes are transferable to their discipline, though they do see disciplinary writing as transferable between disciplines (Bergmann and Zepernick, pp. 130). As a result, they see FYC as a waste of time, merely checking off a required credit.

Clearly, we have a failure to communicate. If students don’t think the skills they’re learning in composition courses are useful to them, then they won’t care beyond the grade, and are less likely to actually learn something, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. The notion that disciplinary writing is graded on content alone is patently false. An engineering professor is likely to be more forgiving of minor grammatical errors, yes, but if your paper is unreadable? They’re less likely to even try.

You might look at all of this and think “wow, these students are jerks!” Admittedly, some of them are. But on the other hand, students have reasons to be pragmatic.

The Job Market

Here’s something to consider: how often do writing courses teach the sort of writing formats used in the workplace? Formal emails, PowerPoint presentations, technical reports, and so on? Addison and McGee draw data from the National Commission on Writing and their own surveys to note that the types of writing required in the workplace are not the types of writing that teachers, high school or college, assign very often (Addison and McGee, pp. 164). They go on to say that “Many faculty resist workplace genres on philosophical grounds, often arguing that their role is to help prepare citizens of the world, not train workers.” (Addison and McGee, pp. 164-165).

This sort of attitude shows a major divide between the teacher’s mindset and the students’ often pragmatic attitudes. College in the United States is expensive, and the white collar job market is very competitive. Students are quite justified in viewing college as a means to an end. While it is an admirable goal, making students into better citizens does not get them jobs, or help them pay off student loans.

Bergmann and Zepernick’s findings, then, should come as no surprise. At the end of their discussion of student attitudes towards English courses, they say that “Although students showed exposure to a process-oriented approach to writing […], they were nonetheless highly product-oriented, believing that the final product of any piece of writing […] is the grade it received [or] the extent of its acceptance or approval by their supervisor.” (Bergmann and Zepernick, pp 136) In other words, they found that students see writing as a way of getting what they want. This isn’t entirely unreasonable. Writing is the vehicle for your thoughts, ideas, and data, not the content itself. But that vehicle is very important, and this attitude may cause students to neglect it.

“You’re Going to Need This for College.”

Early on in his essay, Hollinger condemns this answer by saying that “Teaching doesn’t need to be a magic show” and “Students who understand the mechanics of learning may become better at learning.” (Hollinger, pp. 334). Education doesn’t have to, and really shouldn’t be, a mysterious and arcane art to be kept secret from those who do not practice it.

The better answer, in simple terms, is explaining why you teach the way you do, and trusting your students to understand. But it is wrong to characterize that answer as simple. Do you know why you’re teaching what you’re teaching? Is it going to help your students get where they want to go? Will it help them figure out other kinds of writing? Perhaps a better idea is to ask the titular question of yourself!

Works Cited

Addison, Joanne, and Sharon James McGee. “Writing in High School/Writing in College: Research Trends and Future Directions.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 62, no. 1, 2010, pp. 147–179. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27917889

Bergmann, Linda S., Janet Zepernick. “Disciplinarity and Transfer: Students’ Perceptions of Learning to Write.” WPA: Writing Program Administration, vol. 31, iss. ½, Fall/Winter 2007, pp. 124-149. Ebscohost, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=31131523&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Hollinger, Andrew. “You’re Going to Need This for College.” Bad Ideas about Writing, edited by Drew M Loewe and Cheryl E Ball, West Virginia University Libraries Digital Publishing Institute, 2017, pp. 333–337. https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf

Do you think that you can write in general? After reading Elizabeth Wardle’s “You Can Learn to Write in General,” and diving in a little deeper it seems as if you can not write in general. On first thought, one would think that, sure, as long as one knows how to write and form sentences, they can write in general; but one can’t. There are different elements to different types of writing, for example, poetry and a blog post are two very different types of writing with different purposes, audiences, and structures. In order to be able to write different forms of writing, one needs to be open and aware that different writing requires different skills. Metacognition, thinking about ones thinking, is very important when it comes to learning to write. Students and all other writers for that matter need to look for examples and use context to write the piece one is writing. Practice and cognitive awareness is a way of learning to write different kinds of writing.

Almost right off the bat, Wardle makes her message clear in her piece, saying, “The idea that we can all learn to “write in general” is not just a harmless myth. It’s a dangerous idea that needs to die because it hurts students and frustrates teachers and employers. And writers who believe it are easily discouraged because they don’t know how to learn what they need to learn in new writing situations (Wardle 31).” Students and teachers need to be aware of the possibility of being able to write in new situations with the help of outside sources and previous writing knowledge and skills. Students should be aware that writers are always going to be using prior knowledge to get to know the way around writing in other contexts and types of texts (Elon). Wardle later talks about being able to use transfer to help one write in all situations without needing any kind of “magic formula” (Wardle 32), which was previously brought up by an article in the Elon University’s Journal discussing writing transfer, “the phenomenon in which new and unfamiliar writing tasks are approached through the application, remixing or integration of previous knowledge, skills, strategies, and dispositions (Elon 4).”

Metacognition and thinking about one’s thinking is another important thing to pay attention to when learning how to write. One needs to make sure they are thinking about the writing processes taking place and retaining it for later use in new and unfamiliar writing situations. In a special-issue in the journal Composition Forum, an article by Irene Clark and others discusses genre awareness, the metacognitive side of writing for both teachers and students. “Genre awareness is the idea being that a metacognitive understanding of genre can help students make connections between the type of writing assigned in the Composition course—that is, academic argument— and the writing genres they encounter in other disciplines (Clark 65).” When one can have genre awareness, they are not only learning how to write in that particular genre; they are also learning how all of the elements in a text are influenced by the purpose of the text and in turn the type of text being used. This whole article was focused on students and how teachers can help their students reach the possibility of being able to write a wide range of types of text after their first year in college. But the article argues that genre awareness is larger than just that and that, “the concept of genre awareness can not only benefit students in first year writing classes but also students in all disciplines (Clark 69).” All students, or anyone for that matter, can be benefited from genre awareness because people are always going to be writing one thing or another, whether it be emails, blog posts, or social media posts. A study was done in which a freshman class was structured based around specific genres and built around each other, with metacognition constantly being focused on through discussion and self-evaluation. At the end of the school year, students were given surveys to evaluate their understanding of different genres. “Responses to surveys distributed to students at the end of the semester indicate that they all found their understanding of genre useful for approaching writing tasks in other disciplines and that this understanding made them less anxious about writing in general (Clark 69).” The article has many different examples of classes who used this method, and all had similar results; metacognition and genre awareness is useful in the approach of and writing of different types of texts. Even the Elon University’s Journal agrees that metacognition is important in learning, especially the writing process, saying, “Explicitly modeling transfer-focused thinking and the application of metacognitive awareness as a conscious and explicit part of a process of learning. (Elon 5)”

Wardle ended her piece in the perfect way. She said “There is no writing inoculation because there is no such thing as writing in general. But this isn’t bad news. Rather, it gives all writers permission to keep learning, to fail, and to engage in new kinds of writing in new situations (Wardle).” Everyone needs to understand and accept that you can not write in general, that it takes practice and attention. You can’t write in general, but you can learn to write a wider range of texts. Next time you are writing anything, think about what you’re doing and how that could change if it were a different type of text with a different purpose.

Bibliography

Image 1: Writing Cooperative

Image 2: Pinterest

Clark, Irene L., and Andrea Hernandez. “Genre Awareness, Academic Argument, and Transferability.” The WAC Journal 22 (2011). Web. 15 April 2019.

Elon Statement on Writing Transfer. 29 July 2013. Web. Date of Access. < http://www.elon.edu/ e-web/academics/teaching/ers/writing_transfer/statement.xhtml>.

    When speaking of “Standard American English” there is a lot of controversy surrounding it. One is the correct way that one should write and/or speak to follow those guidelines. There are many people who have previously and/or are currently being told that the way in which they’re speaking/writing is incorrect.  So, it leaves one to question is there a correct way? Or, is every language effectively orally communicating and writing, according to grammatical correct rules- that are set based on the region at which the “language” was founded? What is the bad idea in this situation? And, what could possibly be a better idea? One example of this is African American English and how it is not used correctly according to “Standard English” Language. In the book Bad Ideas About Writing, Jennifer M. Cunningham, in her essay “African American Language is Not Good English” ( BIAW, PG. 88-92) suggests that the bad idea is the way in which society views African American language in its entirety. Believing what is correctly speaking/writing according to the unwritten rule of standard English. She believes that a better ideal way to approach this problematic issue is by teaching code switching in academia without belittling one’s language.

 Photo cred: Eye for Ebony (www.unsplash.com) 

According to Cunningham the bad idea in the statement “African American Language is not good English” is the way in which one views it. She believes that African American language is viewed incorrectly, and society should view it for what it really is, which is a correct form of language. And to further understand that the suggestion of African American language is not a correct form of English is insulting and disrespectful because “African American Language is not good or bad English because it is not, linguistically speaking, English.” (BIAW, PG. 88).  There are some differences that set standard English and African American English apart, but overall, they are both correct forms of speaking. And if society can see that “We need to understand and explain African American Language and Standard American English as different languages, each with its own set of grammatical, phonological, and morphological rules (even though they share a lexicon or vocabulary)” (BIAW, PG 91) then there would be a better outcome and understanding on the views of it. Cunningham implies that a better idea for this problematic issue is the teaching of both languages. If academia will start a teaching environment to where students can learn, when and where to shift the use in languages, then it would become beneficial for them later in life. She believes that teachers should explain to their students that neither language has a higher linguistic hierarchy (one is not better than the other) then students would be able to better understand, retain and become skilled in using both forms of languages in the right settings.

youth Learning.  Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

In Mike Vuolo’s Podcast, “Is Black English a Dialect or a Language” There is a linguistics scholar by the name of Walter Wolfram who has a similar point of view as Cunningham. Like Cunningham he also believes that it is disrespectful “To say someone has no grammar when they have this highly complex grammar is a continuing tolerated form of discrimination in our society.” (www.slate.com)  Further into this podcast Wolfram starts to go into more detail on his outlook on Black English (African American English) and his views are essentially identical to Jennifer M. Cunningham’s views. Wolfram believes that “We need to get to a position where we’re not simply saying you need to talk right, but saying you need to be more sensitive to the different situations.” (www.slate.com) both Wolfram and Cunningham both have key elements that are similar. such as, we as society must be open to change our views in this constant evolving world. And we as a society must teach each other the differences in languages without belittling one another. The only way one would learn to appropriate their writing is by learning and maintaining a mutual respect for all forms of languages and dialects. Being able to know when and where to use it will make you stronger as an individual (academic and socially speaking). It is my personal beliefs that a language and a dialect are practically one in the same, they support each other and build from one another. A dialect helps a language to become stronger because it is the core grounding that keeps languages evolving.

To become a good teacher, writer and listener you must have an open mind, whether it’s your beliefs that someone who may say “he talking” vs “he is talking” is speaking standard English. You should know and understand that although academia may not agree with the wording of those words, that they are correct according to the rules and conventions of African American language. As adults we are taught that for every problem there is a solution, for every solution there is a formula to help fix the problem. What if our solution is to stop normalizing what is bad English and the formula is to  start teaching what is known as code switching, all while being respectful to others language. 

Work cited:

Cunningham, M. Jennifer, “African American Language is not Good English.” Bad ideas about writing, edited by Cheryl E Ball and Drew M Loewe, West Virginia University Libraries, 2017, pp.88-92.

Vuolo, Mike “Lexicon Valley: Is Black English a Dialect or a Language?” Slate Magazine, Feb. 2012, www.slate.com/articles/podcast/lexicon_valley/2012/02/lexicon_valley_is_black_english_a_dialect_or_a_language_.html 

Unsplash. “HD Photo by Eye for Ebony (@Eyeforebony) on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, unsplash.com/photos/7EpZ2IMxK7g

Unsplash. “HD Photo by NeONBRAND (@Neonbrand) on Unsplash.” Beautiful Free Images & Pictures, unsplash.com/photos/zFSo6bnZJTw.

Maelah Jackson

                                                The Better Idea About Writing

Jill Parrot’s essay called Some People Are Just Born Good Writers is one of many essays about bad writing ideas put together called Bad Ideas about Writing.  Parrot’s essay talks about how students and writers alike often believe that the only reason why they aren’t good writers is that they weren’t born that way. This is a terrible idea. In fact, what makes a person become a “bad writer” is because of the writer’s anxiety. What solves writer’s anxiety, is simply practice. Other factors that make are good writer are; those who give uplift themselves instead claiming they are terrible writers before writing and taking the time calm your mind.

Now, don’t panic. There are plenty of ways to practice easing writer’s anxiety. In the further reading section of Parrot’s essay, an article by Katherine Brooks is listed called Writing Anxiety and the Job Search on the website called Psychology Today. Brooks breaks down behaviors of someone who has anxiety about their writing. Some include procrastination, fear of rejection, rushing through projects, etc. The most common kind of writer’s anxiety is Writer’s block. Due to these behaviors that many students experience, they think they are bad writers and this idea couldn’t be furthest from the truth. Just because a writer experiences these behaviors doesn’t make them a bad writer. It makes them an insecure writer. It makes them a writer with anxiety and doesn’t know how to overcome that. Students need to understand their anxieties are common among even the most confident of writers. Now of course there are those people have a natural talent for writing but even they still have to continue to practice getting better at writing. And believe it or not, talented writers often go through the same writing behavior problems as any other person. Sometimes talented writers procrastinate, get writer’s block, and even forget they themselves need to take much needed breaks between writing.

To get over anxiety, Katherine gave some tips to conquer it. She goes on to say, “Instead of avoiding writing, seek out opportunities to improve your writing generally.” (Katherine, 1). What she means by this is that students should take advantage of writing improvement opportunities. Talk to professors to gain constant feedback about your writing so that the student knows they are heading the right direction. It is also important to not be scared to take a critique or two. Professors are there to help students not hurt them. And then there is always an option of having a peer review the work of the writer. Having a peer looking at the writer’s work is a little bit more comforting considering a peer is around your age. But whether or not it is a peer or tutor a professor, there is nothing wrong with getting a second opinion.  

Jill Parrott’s essays also gives advice about improving “bad writing” while first examining the writer’s metacognition. Which is the understanding of one’s level of educational thought process. Parrot talks about reflecting back to the writer’s thought process and point out what needs’ improvement. “Opening up cognitive space that allows for metacognition and reflection is essential to experiential and practical improvement.” This self-reflection helps the writer make changes and build stronger and better habits. And then after this, it is important for the writer it change their mindset about their writing. If someone continues to tell themselves they are a bad writer then they will forever cripple themselves as writers. Instead uplift yourself. It is also important for the writer to take time out for themselves. In order to be a good writer, you have to know when it is time to take a break when needed. Taking a break can help reset a writer’s thought process and calm down the nerves.

Another key factor in helping a student with writer’s anxiety is taking the necessary steps to calm the mind before writing. Eric Maisel’s book called Write Mind:299 Things Writers Should Never Say to Themselves (and What They Should Say Instead) is filled with affirmations that struggling writers need. The book tells you what many writers think which is wrong vs. what writers should think about. Instead of going into writing saying, “I’m not a good writer.” The better thing to say is “I attend my best and write what I can.” Many of these kinds’ examples can be found throughout the book and it helps writers have better thoughts about writing that eases anxiety.

In conclusion, in order to be a good writer, you have to be willing to practice and learn from your mistakes. Ask for help and ask questions and don’t be scared to get a second opinion. Not even the best of writers is incapable of writing mistakes.  In the words of Jill Parrot, “Good writers are not born. They are learned.” (Parrot, 74).

Citations

Psychology Today. (2019). Writing Anxiety and the Job Search. [online] Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/career-transitions/201007/writing-anxiety-and-the-job-search [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].

Textbooks.lib.wvu.edu. (2019). [online] Available at: https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf [Accessed 26 Apr. 2019].

(2019) Write Mind: 299 Things Writers Should Never Say to Themselves (and What They Should Say Instead) [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].

Within the field of writing, there is a lot of controversial beliefs on how to become a good writer. In Patricia A. Dunn’s essay, “Teaching Grammar Improves Writing” in the book Bad Ideas About Writing, Dunn explains why teaching grammar in an attempt to improve writing impinges on a student’s writing development. Grammar and writing are two different subjects and therefore teaching grammar does not help students develop the necessary skills to produce good writing. If the intention is to improve writing, the focus should be on writing itself. Instead of teaching grammar, teachers should incorporate authentic writing assignments. Authentic writing assignments help students to develop flexible literacy skills to become a good writer and allow them to experience real-world feedback.

Authentic. Credit: Nick Youngson

Before elaborating on what authentic writing is, those who share the belief that grammar does improve writing may be astonished by the claim above. If writing involves grammar, why wouldn’t one improve the other? Well, grammar is a set of rules to adhere to in writing, but the usages of grammar are not universal. As Patricia Dunn stated, “… [these] so-called rules are not rules at all but merely conventions, which are not universal and can change over time and from genre to genre” (Dunn 147). To illustrate this, take into consideration essays and memorandums. There is a “rule” stating one should not use pronouns in an essay, but in a memorandum, writers are expected to use pronouns. This an example of how grammar usage varies depending on the application of writing.

Grammar. Credit: PDPics

However, it is not to say that grammar does not have its importance in writing. The problem relies on how its taught. Traditionally, teachers teach grammar in an abstract way that does not necessarily involves a student’s writing. So, instead, as Constance Weaver says in her famous article “Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing,” “…teaching grammar in the context of writing might be much more effective than teaching grammar as a separate subject” (Weaver 16). The idea is to turn the teaching method from something abstract into something concrete. If teachers taught grammar in the context of a student’s writing, students could better form a connection. When students can make the connections of grammatical errors with their work, they get real feedback on how to improve their writing grammatically. Nonetheless, grammar and writing are still two different subjects, and if the desire is to improve writing, the focus should be on writing.

So, what is authentic writing? Authentic writing is writing in which the author is genuinely interested in the subject at hand. It is writing where the author has a real purpose in their writing and a real audience to present to. Given these two circumstances, the writer becomes genuinely engaged in their writing because of the desire to have their voice heard and make a difference with what they are saying. Unfortunately, in most writing classes today, this form of writing is rarely incorporated in classes. The writing seen in school is writing where there is not a real purpose or audience. Students write based on the extrinsic motivation of a letter grade, and the audience is limited to a teacher or exam scorer. 

To evaluate one the benefits of incorporating authentic writing assignments in school today, consider this statement made by Ken Lindblom in the article “School Writing Vs Authentic Writing,” “…when students write on social media, they are devising something to say, considering how to best say it to their intended audience, and they engage the results of their writing…” (1). When students become genuinely interested in their purpose for writing, they naturally exhibit skills that are critical to be a good writer. When writing a paper, the author must formulate why they are writing, for whom they are writing, and of course, provide the necessary revisions to their writing to make sure their writing can be understood. These skills are not only a necessity for writing a paper but have many useful applications to real-world assignment as well. As an example, consider a business advertising a product. For a business to get the best results, the advertiser must understand why they are promoting a product, who their intended audience is, and make sure the context of their message is clear to the audience.

Failure and Success. Credit: Ramdlon

Another benefit authentic writing provides, is that it gives authors real feedback. In the article, “Real-World Writing: Making Purpose and Audience Matter” by Grant Wiggins, Wiggins states that when writers are facing a real audience, “…[they] get the feedback [they] desperately need to become good writers” (Wiggins 33). Having a real audience equates to real feedback, and of course, this type of feedback is non-existent in typical school writing since there is no real audience. Just like any other action, being able to experience the results of one’s work is one of the most influential factors. Of course, results can either be successful or failure, but make no mistake; both success and failure can cause growth in an author’s writing.

While writing and grammar are interrelated, one does not improve the other. If teachers teach grammar in an attempt to improve writing, teach grammar in the context of the student’s writing to assist the student’s writing. As for the method to improve writing, teachers should incorporate authentic writing assignments in their classes. Authentic writing help students develop flexible literacy skills and allow them to experience real-world success or failure of their writing. Now, while some may see failure as a non-beneficial outcome, this is also another controversial belief that is not true. For those who do believe this, read the article “Failure Is Not an Option” by Allison D. Carr in the book Bad Ideas About Writing to get a better understanding of the benefits of failing.

Works Cited

Dunn, Patricia. “Teaching Grammar Improves Writing.” Bad Ideas About Writing. Ball, Cheryl and Loewe, Drew. 2007, pp. 144-149. textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf. Accessed April 8, 2019.

Carr, Allison. “Failure is Not an Option.” Bad Ideas About Writing. Ball, Cheryl and Loewe, Drew. 2007, pp. 76-81. textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf. Accessed April 8, 2019.

Lindblom, Ken. “School Writing Vs. Authentic Writing.” July 27, 2015. writerswhocare.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/school-writing-vs-authentic-writing/. Accessed April 8, 2019.

Wiggins, Grant. “EJ in Focus: Real-World Writing: Making Purpose and Audience Matter.” The English Journal, vol. 98, no. 5, 2009, pp. 29–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40503292.

Weaver, Constance. “Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing.” The English Journal, vol. 85, no. 7, 1996, pp. 15–24. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/820502.

PdPics. Grammar Magnifier Magnifying Glass. 2013. Pixabay, www.pixabay.com/photos/grammar-magnifier-magnifying-glass-389907/. Accessed April 26, 2019.

Youngson, Nick. Authentic. Picpedia, www.picpedia.org/handwriting/a/authentic.html. Accessed April 26, 2019.

Ramdlon. Success Failure Opposite. 2016. Pixabay, www.pixabay.com/photos/success-failure-opposite-choice-1123017/. Accessed April 26, 2019.

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Hello my name is Ben and I like to take pictures of flowers and mushrooms.  I found this Crape Myrtle near my grandparents’ house in Carrollton GA in mid March. It had just started budding and I thought it looked neat!

Budding Crape Myrtle flowers. Photo Credit: Ben Campbell