Academic Discourse Essay Research Paper In Peter — страница 2

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grade. Perry reasons, “Perhaps this value accounts for the final anomaly: as instructors, we are inclined to reward bull highly, where we do not detect its intent, to the consternation of the bullster’s acquaintances.” Perhaps a teacher’s willingness to accept mediocre work is based on the fact that he thinks the author may not be able to take his criticism. This is nothing short of a friendly consideration on the teacher’s part, but it is an unnecessary one. Students receive so much criticism from others on a daily basis that a few comments on an essay do nothing to rival. Harsh as they may seem, these comments are actually helping the student to become a better writer. When the author is asked to write a paper for a “real” rather than “general” audience, he

will be much more capable because his teacher has given him honest feedback as to how a person would actually react to his essay. Unfortunately, those students whose instructors refuse to provide criticism will never know what parts of their papers to improve upon. Elbow effectively makes his point by stating, “… the student never gets the experience of learning what actually happens to a real reader reading his words.” How can students get around all of these obstacles and write a paper that appeals to both the teacher and the “general reader?” Perhaps this is the intended purpose of writing classes: to teach students to become better versed in writing for many people all at once. For those who may find it difficult to cope with the conflict caused where academic

discourse is concerned, Elbow offers some free advice that may prove very helpful. Asking a teacher to provide a more clearly explained set of directions could be very favorable. Besides the obvious advantages that an increased amount of clarity would furnish, the teacher may also choose to sponsor a class discussion on the exact audience of their papers. Every time an essay is assigned, it would be to both the teacher’s and the student’s benefit to consider the topic of the paper and then deduce what disposition a “general reader” would take on such an issue or event. By clearly defining the audience, the author is not only learning to address his readers, but he is also beginning to realize the relationship between the style of a piece of literature and the audience it

attempts to reach. Probably one of the most effective pieces of advice offered by Elbow is, “…your teacher is a friend doing you a favor—not an employee doing a duty.” Much of the reason there is a problem between students and teachers to begin with is the fact that instructors feel insulted when authors turn in their final papers complete with abundant mistakes. A teacher could not be more offended. These educators are willing to give the student their expertise for free, and yet some students treat them as if they are responsible for cleaning up foolish errors that could very easily have been fixed. Elbow, a teacher himself, lists several pieces of common sense that he expects from his students. First, he expects that each paper be neat and as mistake-free as possible.

Next, he asks that each paper be turned in on time. He goes on to mention how important it is to stick to the assignment and not rattle on about topics totally unrelated to that which you are supposed to be discussing. Although no student can be forced to follow each of these requests, if they are disregarded the teacher will undoubtedly become less motivated to try to understand an unclear passage or explain an error in the future. Much of Elbow’s advice is sensible and will help the student a great deal if applied correctly. However, several of his suggestions seem impractical. For example, Elbow recommends arranging an alternate assignment with the teacher. Teachers assign different projects because there is a certain skill they want to teach. Although an alternate

assignment may indeed be able to offer the same type of learning, there is also the issue of fairness. Other students in the classroom may assume that the teacher is showing favoritism to another student. Instead of the student being the one to take the initiative to come up with an alternate assignment, the teacher should suggest two or three essay topics that students may choose from. In this way, the teacher is providing a range of questions that ask the student to use the technique the teacher is reinforcing. Then, both teacher and student are satisfied and none of the students suspect that any other is being given special privileges. Elbow also suggests bringing in outside readers as a new audience for the students. Every once in a while, this would be a very beneficial