Developmental English

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College Professors Chatboard

Developmental English

by Sha

Jul 24, 2010

I teach a developemental writing class . Does anyone have any suggestions on teaching students to write a research paper. I have studens who don't write the paper at all or plagarize the entire thing. I tried to have them do it in stages but some of them won't even do this!

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a mere adjunct (more) Just wanted to add that the foreign students are not the only ones who have trouble writing the English language. Theoretically students enter English Comp being able to write a correct sentence and a good paragraph, but as many of us community college English instructors know, this is not always the case. With the amount of essay writing, research...See MoreJust wanted to add that the foreign students are not the only ones who have trouble writing the English language. Theoretically students enter English Comp being able to write a correct sentence and a good paragraph, but as many of us community college English instructors know, this is not always the case. With the amount of essay writing, research, citing sources, recognizing logical fallacies and argumentative techniques, analyzing text, etc. that the course requires, it is difficult to find time for teaching basic sentence and paragraph writing, where to put a comma, how to avoid run-ons, fragments, etc. I want the students to work hard and be accountable for their learning, etc., but if the college lets them take the course even though they need remediation, is it fair to assign them a D or F as opposed to a C, if the students are working hard and revising their papers and improving? Grading writing is subjective, after all. You can tweak the expectations a little bit, for example, by expecting them to write complete sentences and not plagiarize but not demanding a high degree of eloquence.I know my students learn a lot and feel a sense of accomplishment at the end.

On 7/31/10, marjoryt wrote: > At the college level, developmental English students don't > generally do formal research papers, as it's a cumulative > process while developmental students are still working out > the various steps in writing. Presented with what appears to > be a multiple step assignment they don't understand, they'll > revert to past bad habits or make a guess as to what you > want. GED recipients do NOT study research paper set up at > all. If you want to go down this path, then consider this > plan, which a coworker and I developed: > > Choose topic(s) with student "buy-in". For instance, we like > the students to choose a disease/disorder suffered by a > family member or close friend (avoid diseases suffered by the > student). > > In the same meeting, we'll ask the students to brainstorm and > freewrite, without any outside resources. I generally remind > them of the 6?s (who, what, where, when, why, and how). We > take up those papers at the end of the period and just hold > the papers (no grading). > > For homework, we ask the students to talk with the family > member or friend and collect information about living with > the disease. We'll suggest taking notes or recording (via > cell phone). We ask them NOT to bother researching on the > internet - that will come later. I'll show some examples of > taking notes, so they'll understand this is very informal AND > personal. > > In the next class, we'll discuss how talking to a sufferer > provided some REAL information, and how getting some of that > into the paper will immediately improve it. At that point, > it's time to set up the entry on the works cited page > (interview). Then, I ask the students to work from the > interview and identify the one very best phrase or single > sentence in the whole interview (their choice). They must > then "sell the quote" to a fellow student - it's good > information that helps explain something. The student must > then link that quotation to a specific sentence in the > draft. I show them exactly how to format that. > > At that point, the papers come back to me, along with the > interview materials. By this time the student are frothing > at the mouth - they are wanting to do internet research - > they'll even bring in materials! > > In the next meeting, we work on the outline. They must > identify specific gaps of information, and they should ensure > that every paragraph has topic and conclusion sentences. I > ask them to identify and incorporate a 2nd interview quote, > then proofread heavily, as I'm going to read the produced 2nd > draft. They are to bring in printouts from two reputable > websites, which are to be annotated for useful information. > The website printout must have specific information noted > (for the works cited entry). > > Before the next session I read, mostly looking for > information gaps, which I'll note on the papers. In the next > session, we discuss 2 things - how to incorporate general > information, which must still be sourced on on the works > cited page and in the text, and the specific quotations, > which also get the same attention. We continually > reinforce, "If you add something, anything at this point, you > learned it from another source, and you have to show that > source." We collect the draft and the annotated printouts to > check for inadvertent plagiarism. > > For developmental students, I wouldn't ask them to produce > more than 3 typed pages in MLA format with no more than 3 > sources.

Aug 11, 2010

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marjoryt I see only 2 or 3 ESL students per semester; but I found this article very enlightening!

What to do when a student has learned, but not enough for mastery, is THE problem in developmental courses. It's been a topic at NADE (National Association for Developmental Education) and very definitely in our state organization.

In one res...See More

Aug 14, 2010

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sspil I think all community college instrutors struggle with this. I teach Physics instead of English Comp., but I do fight some of the same issues. The students are supposed to come to me with math skills. I frequently get students that are unprepared with the algebra or calculus skills needed to be successful in the course, not to mention that their pr...See More

Aug 17, 2010

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sha On 8/14/10, marjoryt wrote: > I see only 2 or 3 ESL students per semester; but I found this > article very enlightening! > > What to do when a student has learned, but not enough for mastery, > is THE problem in developmental courses. It's been a topic at NADE > (National Association for Developmental Education) and very > defi...See More

Aug 17, 2010

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sun On 7/24/10, Sha wrote: > I teach a developemental writing class . Does anyone have > any suggestions on teaching students to write a research > paper. I have studens who don't write the paper at all or > plagarize the entire thing. I tried to have them do it in > stages but some of them won't even do this!

Yes, fail them. If...See More