 |
 |
Cathy -- Thanks for asking such a good question, and for nudging us into useful answers. I've wondered too if Canadians have a distinctive take on the reading/writing question because so much writing teaching happens within lit courses or other disciplinary courses. For instance, over the past few years I have noted an increasing use at U of T of "critique" assignments. Profs find them useful because they make students read specified texts carefully. They go beyond summaries in asking for analytic reading and awareness of argumentation, even for some rhetorical awareness of intended effect on reader. They invite students to resist texts' intentions and even to evaluate their success. They allow for statements of opinion that are based on more than gut feeling or emotional response (while not totally excluding them). Lots of problems here, of course, since faculty don't always spell out those "invitations," etc. Students often just summarize, or they panic at the need to make a judgement when they don't know anything more about the subject than what the text itself says. The invitation to resist and criticize isn't always meant fully, either, and students sometimes know they have to limit or shape their evaluations to match the prof's biases. But at best they do give students a way into the conversation of the discipline, and offer chances to read intensively with attention to argument and rhetoric. If they can demonstrate the need for resistance even to "good" writing, they are a worthy introduction to academic discourse. And--a handy pedagogical advantage--they're much more resistant to essay-buying than another round of standard overused essay topics. My sense is that faculty here in many different departments spontaneously generated similar topics because of the need they sensed to define academic literacy as distinct from other kinds of reading and writing--including the lack of analysis fostered by version of "reader response" that has dominated Ontario secondary English curriculum as the main/only way of writing about texts. In US handbooks and textbooks, I see a lot of attention to book reports (also used widely in schools to make students show they have read "enough"), but little focus on the idea of review or critique. Even the latter term is uncommon. (Too French?) No surprise that Janet Giltrow has written by far the best books on the topic of reading academic texts critically. Do the rest of you see this type of reading/writing assignment happening across the disciplines? Do you agree with my sense that it is somehow a Canadian peculiarity? Is it worth encouraging? Regards, Margaret. -- (Dr.) Margaret Procter Room 216, 15 King's College Circle Coordinator, Writing Support Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H7 University of Toronto (416) 978-8109; FAX (416) 971-2027 www.library.utoronto.ca/www/writing/ [log in to unmask]