174 CHAPTER 7 | FRom SummARy To SynTHESiSmore conscious of the effect their writing was having
on other people.”
Mr. rogers believes from interviews with students
that the data in the study will help show that students
routinely learn the basics of writing concepts wher-
ever they write the most. For instance, he says, stu-
dents who compose messages for an audience of their
peers on a social-networking Web site were forced to
be acutely aware of issues like audience, tone, and
voice.
“The out-of-class writing actually made them more
conscious of the things writing teachers want them to
think about,” the professor says.
Mr. Otuteye, who recently started a company that
develops Web applications, says he paid close atten-
tion to the writing skills of his peers at Stanford as the
co-founder of a poetry slam. It was the students who
took their out-of-class writing seriously who made
the most progress, he says. “everybody was writing
in class, but the people who were writing out of and
inside of class, that was sort of critical to accelerating
their growth as writers.”
Although analysis of the Stanford study is still at an
early stage, other scholars say they would like to start
similar studies. At the university of California, several
writing researchers say they are trying to get financial
support for a longitudinal study of 300 students on the
campuses in Irvine, Santa Barbara, and Davis.Curricular implications
The implications of the change in students’ writ-
ing habits for writing and literature curricula are up
for debate. Much of the argument turns on whether
online writing should be seen as a welcome new
direction or a harmful distraction.
Mr. Grabill, from Michigan State, says college writ-
ing instruction should have two goals: to help stu-
dents become better academic writers, and to help
them become better writers in the outside world.
The second, broader goal is often lost, he says, either192021222324Why does it have to
be “either/or”? Isn’t it
possible that there’s
a middle ground?Grabill criticizes the
critics, pointing out
that they have lost
sight of an impor-
tant goal: Students
should be able to07_GRE_5344_Ch7_151_210.indd 174 11/19/14 1:59 PM