Composition: History & Theory: 1970 - 1979
Mina Shaughnessy, Errors and Expectations (1977)
Description
Joseph Harris, in A Teaching Subject: Composition Since 1966 (1997), references Shaughnessy’s work which was stirring up heated debates in the journals. The book is a study of “basic writers” which shows how students, especially those who have often been presumed uneducatable or hopelessly unprepared for college work, could in fact be helped to compose reasonably correct academic prose. Shaughnessy argues that basic writers lack experience rather than intelligence. She also argues that basic writers are often minorities (African Americans and Hispanics) that have had little experience with academic discourse. As such, she argues that it is our duty as composition instructors to assimilate these students into these academic discourse communities in order to arm them with the language they need in order to succeed. At the time of the book’s publication, Shaughnessy felt that many of her colleagues were avoiding the hard work of “teaching students not already familiar with their preferred ways of reading and writing.” The book was praised for its inclusive tone, attentiveness to the language of students, and analysis of the difficulties students often have in taking on the critical and argumentative stance required in academic writing (Shaughnessy gained an iconic status—the image of the concerned teacher).
A brief summary of criticism: The book claims to be liberal, but can be seen as intellectually conservative in many ways. This approach leads to the writing course becoming a primer on teaching for correctness (handwriting, punctuation, syntax, spelling, and vocabulary). Her approach could potentially lead to the formulaic classroom space (a lack of room for expression or critical thought). Her method is that of a literary critic (explication). She treats revision as proofreading. Some said that she discovered what some had already discovered: David Holbrook’s English for the Rejected (1967).
Date of Upload
3/14/09