Normand,
The discussion you've initiated is certainly of central concern to all
of us involved with teaching writing. At McGill we were able to fore-
stall the implementation of writing competency tests (there was consider
able pressure from some sectors within the university and from other
Quebec universities who were all "doing it" and wondered how McGill
thought it didn't really need them) by arguing that such tests were
reductive in the ways they defined writing and writing competency,
that any such tests would promote a view of writing as a skill ac-
quired once and for all (much of what Phillipa puts so well in her post-
ing). We argued that we ought to see writing as continually learned
as people confronted new writing difficulties as they moved through
the university and into new areas, and that we should always anticipate
and allow for a period of regression (Aviva Freedman and Ian Pringle
had demonstrated this notion of regression in a comprehensive study in
the early 80s), seeing it as a sign of learning, a struggling through
language with new concepts etc. We argued as well that what was defined
as writing competency in the minds of most people was no more than a
concern for surface correctness, and that a large proportion of the
errors we ought to be concerned about arose largely from a failure to
have a grasp of concepts the writer was struggling with, that fluency
in language was not really apart from fluency in thought, and that
fluency would come as it always does through familiarization -- a pro-
cess involving opportunities to talk in small groups and opportunities
to write informally - writing to get the hang of it.
This is all top of the head; so I had better stop before I end up writin
g something that disproves the very claims I making about writing, think
ing and fluency.
Patrick
Patrick Dias
Faculty of Education
McGill University
3700 McTavish Street
Montreal, QC
Canada H3A 1Y2
Telephone: (514) 398-6960 (work)
626-3605 (home)
FAX (514) 398-4529
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
From: "Russ Hunt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "James Brown" <[log in to unmask]>,
"Mary-Louise Craven" <[log in to unmask]>
