Loretta Gray, Central Washington University
CCCC 2007
New York City
March 21, 2007
Formulaic Expressions: Scaffolding for Fluency
Brief Outline of Presentation
I.
Establishing an academic identity
II. Difficulties in CWU’s English 101
III. Formulaic expressions
IV. Using formulaic expressions in the composition classroom
Examples of Formulaic Expressions
Summarizing
 According to AUTHOR, ______________.
 AUTHOR states that _________________.
 In AUTHOR’s view, _________________.
 She also stresses that _________________.
 The writer points out that _______________.
 In his book ______, AUTHOR maintains that _______________ .
 Writing in the journal NAME OF JOURNAL, AUTHOR claims that _______.
Responding, With-the-Grain
 My experience confirms AUTHOR’s suggestion/belief that __________.
 I agree with AUTHOR that _______, a point deserving emphasis since _______.
 If AUTHOR is correct, then we need to ____________.
 Recent research convinces me that AUTHOR is correct in asserting that _______.
Responding, Against-the-Grain
 By focusing on ______, AUTHOR misses a more important issue.
 I find it hard to accept AUTHOR’s claim that _______, because it is based on the assumption that
________.
 Several of AUTHOR’s statements are contradictory. On the one hand, she asserts that ________.
On the other hand, she states that _____________.
 AUTHOR is mistaken, because he fails to consider that ______________.
 In arguing that _______, AUTHOR overlooks recent research that __________.
Responding, With-the-Grain and Against-the-Grain
 Although I agree with AUTHOR that ________ and that ____________, I disagree with his
conclusion that ________________.
 While I disagree with AUTHOR’S assumption that ____________, I fully endorse her proposal to
______________________.
 I have mixed feelings about this issue. In a way, _____________. But from a different perspective,
_________________.
 I cannot endorse AUTHOR’s view that ___________, even though I will concede
that____________.
 Though AUTHOR may be right that __________________, I must point out that _____________.
 AUTHOR provides evidence that ______________, but other researchers have convinced me that
________________.
Synthesizing
 The claim that ______ is supported by the observations of AUTHOR 1 and AUTHOR 2.
AUTHOR 1 insists that ______. Likewise, AUTHOR 2 believes that ______.
 AUTHOR 1 and AUTHOR 2 give examples of _____. AUTHOR 1 asserts that ______.
AUTHOR 2 supports this position by _________.
 Although AUTHOR 1 believes that _____, this interpretation is not held universally; for example,
AUTHOR 2 notes that _____.
 AUTHOR 1 asserts that _____; however, he fails to explain ___. AUTHOR 2 points out that ____.
Works Cited
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Cowie, A. P., ed. Phraseology: Theory, Analysis, and Applications. Oxford Studies in Lexicography and
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Works Cited by Students
Jillson, Calvin C. Pursuing the American Dream: Opportunity and Exclusion over Four Centuries.
Lawrence: UP of Kansas, 2004.
McNamee, Stephen J. and Robert K. Miller, Jr. The Meritocracy Myth. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield,
2004.