Week 5 - Macro vs Micro

I think what was learned in Fei's case study echoed sentiments I've heard in Gen Ed Lit colloquium, in that teachers should focus more on macro-level comments (rhetoric) vs. micro-level comments (grammar) in students' papers. We were told that because students can assign an equal level of importance to both types of comments, comments on organization/logic/analysis would be more helpful to them in the long-term. While it does seem that Fei "gamed" the system a bit and didn't learn as much as she could have, since she went back to China, maybe in the end the rhetorical/logical/analysis improvement was more important anyway!

I was particularly interested in how both Fei and the Bedford Guide chapter reiterated the problem of students' limitation of time, especially given all their other social/academic/lifestyle concerns. I was surprised that Fei didn't like when tutors gave explanations for their changes or explained grammar rules, but it makes sense when you consider her time and priorities. I almost feel like every college needs to offer mandatory Time Management & Finding Your Motivation classes or pair students with life coaches, because so much of doing well in school/life requires structure and motivation! The "ideal student," in the Writing Center and otherwise, is rare.

Comments

  1. AmeliaSeptember 25, 2019 at 11:15 AM

    Wow! Couldn't agree more about the time management aspect of this--I think one of the aspects of an English class when you're a non-native English speaking student has to be the sheer time it takes to complete a standard assignment compared with native-English speaking student. This combined with the curricular and extracurricular commitments that fill any student's days has to be immense.

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