"Sh*t-plus," "AWK," "Frag," and "Huh?": An Empirical Look at a Writing Program's Commenting Practices”
This video is about a study concerning teacher’s comments on papers that was administered at California State University – Fresno. The purpose of this video is to present students’ concerns about the remarks they receive on papers, and how this affects their writing process.
First Segment
The first segment of the video brings several issues to the surface. For example, the comments professors or instructors leave for their students may contain unclear wording and often students are baffled and find themselves going to the professor for clearer explanation. According to this study:
-“19.96% of all comments were written as fragments.”
Also, students feel compelled to revise when the professor suggests doing so. Most of the students in this study are under the impression that they must satisfy their professors. In this process, students may lose their own message in their paper, and cater to that of their professor.
There is also a section that questions the importance of peer comments versus teacher comments. Some of the students found that teacher comments were more helpful, while others found that peer comments were very helpful and less bias.
The concern over race and gender is also questioned in this video. One student felt that cultural issues play an important role. For instance, a student might focus in on idea that is of importance to him or her, which may create a clash between the student and the professor depending on what the professor deems as important. Among the ones interviewed:
-“72.5 of commenters in this study were white.”
Second Segment
The second segment covers a couple of different topics. Grammar versus main idea is the first topic that is mentioned. The students interviewed expressed that they would rather receive more of a focus on the purpose of their paper than on grammar. Grammar is important, but the students that were asked in this video wanted help in the overall purpose of their paper. This study reflects that:
-“Only 6.89% of all comments were idea/revision based.”
- “3.37% of all comments were directed toward specific ideas.”
The color of ink an instructor uses while making corrections sends a message as well. Only one student mentioned that he liked the red ink because it stood out, while others were opposed to it because it’s “alarming.”
What I think…
Just out of curiosity, I would like to know how many people were interviewed. This is a little unclear…
Overall, I think the video is very insightful. I agree that some professors (not all) leave very brief comments that leave students confused and discouraged. I also believe that there are professors who may not actually agree with the message that the student is trying to make, and this reflects in their grade. I had an English professor who told our class: “I don’t have to agree with your paper in order to like it.” What this particular professor was looking for was a good argument, whether she agreed or not. I like that!!
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Overall I really liked this clip too. I was confused by the statistic, "-“Only 6.89% of all comments were idea/revision based.
ReplyDelete- “3.37% of all comments were directed toward specific ideas.”
because afterward it said how many were grammar based, and there was still a huge number unaccounted for, I believe, so I wondered what other categories there were. I also wondered what they classified as grammar, because as we have seen, there are 5 different levels. What level were they talking about. They don't define the critera for each label.
I would be curious to see that.
I like what you said about your teacher who said that he doesn't have to agree with a paper to like it. So true, for any good teacher, anyway. I also liked your comments about how students feel the need to revise for their teachers, and in doing so, they often lose their voices because they are just doing what they think they need to be doing to get an "A." The movie really made you think. I enjoyed it. I think it would be nice if they supplemented it with a print version that answered all of our questions. :)
Sorry for the typos.
ReplyDeleteI really liked these videos, too, and I'm glad they made you guys think about how students perceive what we're doing. I especially liked the discussion of ink color-- it was good to hear students' thoughts on that issue!
ReplyDeleteI, too, wish that the statistics would have been presented more clearly, but I have a feeling that there's another publication out there by the authors (especially Asao B. Inoue who is known for studying race and assessment, among other things) that deal with these statistics.
I never cared what color of ink was used, red is only getting a bad rap because it's what has been used. History is bad because it's history, now? Students whine. If you don't want the paper to 'bleed' make less mistakes! (Or that is what I tell myself, though my last paper must have had a grader with a pen fetish, it looked like it was drug through a pile of wet Skittles after the mark up.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I did like the video, and you nailed it with the blog. Coulda saved some time and just read you! (Just kidding!) But it's good to see yet another affirmation of the current trend to go easy on grammar comments, focus on holistic suggestions with revision in mind, and keep the student's preferences paramount to your 'teacher' style and standards(even if the video did give out some shotty stats, I mean hey, we're English majors! Leave us at least ONE stereotype! Plus, we don't solely judge a composition on grammar, why hold statistics to total mathematical accuracy? We've all heard of outliers, they get tossed!)
I also agree with the revision focus rather than a focus directed by teacher comments. I heard about a study once where an instructor put comments like: "picking your nose would help," "does your dog have fleas..." etc. comments unrelated to the composition. My understanding was that this instructor performed this little experiment to see if any of the students would respond. They didn't. It's an interesting debate but I am definitely for the revision process rather than just a grade with comments. I think it puts the student in control of their grade and helps them to take ownership/authorship (if you will).
ReplyDelete