The theory and practice of grading writing : problems and possibilities / edited by Frances Zak, Christopher C. Weaver.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Zak, Frances, 1939-

Weaver, Christopher C., 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching.

English language.

English language--Rhetoric--Ability testing.

Grading and marking (Students).

Physical Description:

xix, 224 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [1998]

Summary:

Grading is one of the thorniest issues writing teachers must deal with, yet, surprisingly little has been written on this topic. As writing teachers move increasingly toward practices that focus on writing as a process, they face a growing need to reconsider their systems of grading to determine whether or not these systems support their pedagogies. The authors interrogate the grading of individual papers as well as portfolios and the assigning of end-of-term grades. This collection explores the issues and problems that have emerged as conventional grading practices have lagged behind and been challenged by new theories of language.

While the book will be of interest to theorists, Zak and Weaver have also made the book relevant and useful to teachers whose primary interest is the practical consequences of theory in their classrooms. Where theoretical discussion takes place, the language is clear and accessible. Many of the authors write directly from personal experience, telling stories of the classroom or writing of new techniques and approaches they have tried. They speak with the voices of teachers, and the tone and content of their words convey a sense of the immediacy of the topic.

Contents:

Part I. Directions and Misdirections

Student Voices 1

1. The Origins and Evolution of Grading Student Writing: Pedagogical Imperatives and Cultural Anxieties / Richard Boyd 3

2. Direction in the Grading of Writing? What the Literature on the Grading of Writing Does and Doesn't Tell Us / Bruce W. Speck, Tammy R. Jones 17

3. Do We Do What We Say? Contradictions in Composition Teaching and Grading / Bruce Maylath 31

Part II. The Power and Authority of Graders

Student Voices 37

4. Construction, Deconstruction, and (Over) Determination: A Foucaultian Analysis of Grades / Kathleen Blake Yancey, Brian Huot 39

5. Peter Elbow and the Cynical Subject / Michael Bernard-Donals 53

6. Differences of Opinion: An Exchange of Views / Peter Elbow, Michael Bernard-Donals 67

Part III. How Students See Grades as Signifiers

Student Voices 75

7. Grading as a Rhetorical Construct / Nick Carbone, Margaret Daisley 77

8. Resisting Reform: Grading and Social Reproduction in a Secondary Classroom / Steven VanderStaay 95

Part IV. Institutional Entanglements

Student Voices 107

9. The Politics of Cross-Institutional Grading: An Adjunct's Dilemma / Pauline Uchmanowicz 109

10. The Politics and Perils of Portfolio Grading / Maureen Neal 123

Part V. Imagining Alternatives

Student Voices 139

11. Grading in a Process-Based Writing Classroom / Christopher C. Weaver 141

12. Gender and Grading: "Immanence" as a Path to "Transcendence?" / Irene Papoulis 151

13. Grade the Learning, Not the Writing / Cherryl Smith, Angus Dunstan 163

14. Changing Grading While Working with Grades / Peter Elbow 171

15. The Conversation Continues: A Dialogue on Grade Inflation / Kathleen Blake Yancey, Michael Bernard-Donals, Margaret Daisley, Maureen Neal, Steven VanderStaay, Nick Carbone, Brian Huot 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-207) and index.

ISBN:

0791436691

0791436705

OCLC:

36909893