I would like to add a more thoughtful response to my brief reaction
yesterday. First, regarding the Brock University situation--
Of course, there are political realities that all of us face. Those two
lecture courses, with follow-up seminars, could possibly be helpful
to some students. However, the important issue is that the
administration and faculty should not think that because they are
providing these courses, they have no further responsibility
regarding writing. They should encourage writing in all disciplines,
in all years of university--and establish a Writing Centre. In other
words, one might tolerate the two regressive aspects of the
proposed courses--focusing on grammar and lecturing to large
classes--if there are better initiatives as well.
To Victoria Littman--
I would agree with Henry that Writing Centres should be academic
and that Writing Centre supervisors should be faculty, not support
staff (a battle I am still fighting!). And you are right:
marginalization of the Writing Centre and large lectures on writing
both come from the same misunderstanding of writing (sometimes
an intentional misunderstanding because of a focus on the "bottom
line"). I recommend an article by Mike Rose, "The Language of
Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University," in Negotiating
Academic Literacies (eds. Vivian Zamel and Ruth Spack). I have
highlighted portions of it and sent it to busy administrators.(I don't
yet know whether that had a negative or positive effect, however!)
Best wishes to you both, from one who is still struggling with all of
these issues,
Roberta
Supervisor, Writing Centre
University of New Brunswick, Saint John
P.O. Box 5050
Saint John, NB
E2L 4L5
Fax: (506) 648-5528
Phone: (506) 648-5502
Email: [log in to unmask]
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