tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post3255998210054229498..comments2023-10-30T12:26:15.822+01:00Comments on Research as a Second Language: DemotivationThomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-50909275679704299202011-05-16T16:50:29.667+02:002011-05-16T16:50:29.667+02:00I found in a recent graduate course and a separate...I found in a recent graduate course and a separate dissertation proposal defense that students had not thought about writing at all. It wasn't that they just were not able to able skills they had recently learned in another context, but that they hadn't really hadn't thought about any kind of issue relating to prose style at all in recent years. Students did suffer in their grades because of this.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-28704125934199020292011-05-16T10:36:44.617+02:002011-05-16T10:36:44.617+02:00I think that's a really good point. In fact, t...I think that's a really good point. In fact, the continuously self-critical academy might be undermining its authority here. We keep granting that we don't teach writing skills enough, or not well enough. Instead, we should simply punish poor writers with low grades (and softer kinds of humiliation).<br /><br />If you don't write well enough, it's mainly because you don't write often enough. If you work very hard at your writing, and have done so for a long time, but still don't write well, you may be in the wrong program (or simply not suited for university, which is not in itself shameful).<br /><br />Poor writing can't really be blamed on a lack of writing instruction. It can be blamed on a lack of criticism and tough grading. Of course, if you're going to evaluate the writing of your students you do well to integrate writing explicitly in your teaching. But that's just common sense.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-79993463488028882342011-05-16T10:25:53.940+02:002011-05-16T10:25:53.940+02:00Students have to learn that what they are taught ...Students have to learn that what they are taught in one class can be applied to other classes as well. When professors read seminar papers and are surprised by the students' poor writing skills, it always turns out that the students are not applying what they learned in courses on writing skills.Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.com