To: FTS Faculty
From: Sujay Rao and Rebecca Fremo
Date: August 20, 2009
RE: FTS Student Writing Assessment
The First Term Seminar Program and the Writing Center are once again working together
to identify and assist those students who are most likely to need extra help with academic
writing tasks. While we assume most of these students will be English Language
Learners (E.L.L.), many may be multilingual students (Hmong or Somali, for instance)
who have been educated in the United States. Still others may have learning disabilities
that interfere with written language. Finally, a few students may have profound
difficulties with writing for reasons we cannot identify.
If we can identify these students early on, we can connect them with Writing Center
Director Rebecca Fremo; our E.L.L. Tutoring Specialist, Katy Young; and/ or specially
designated Writing Center tutors. But first we need your help.
Ideally, each incoming FTS student would complete a brief writing sample by
Wednesday, September 16. We are happy to provide a sample writing assessment for
you to use if you are interested (details below). However, feel free to choose a writing
assessment of your own.
The details:
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We will provide copies of an editorial by John Churchill and directions for your
students prior to September 8. You can use this writing assessment or choose one
of your own.
Students can write during class or they can take the assignment home. Their
writing can be typed or handwritten.
We ask you to quickly scan the samples submitted by your students, identifying
any papers that strike you as particularly taxing to read. We ask you to flag only
those samples where the writing impedes your ability to make meaning. You
might describe these samples as “very difficult to read” or “virtually unreadable.”
Please do not submit papers that simply exhibit what you might call unfortunate
stylistic choices, or garden-variety misreadings and rhetorical missteps.
Once you’ve identified any such papers, please forward them to Rebecca Fremo
via campus mail.
Rebecca and Sujay will review the papers a second time, contact any students who might
benefit from intervention, and copy you as well with further suggestions. We don’t
anticipate receiving more than one or two papers per section on average; some of you
may not have any papers to submit at all.
Here’s what will probably mark the papers we seek:
1. Rhetorical difficulty: student misses the boat in terms of purpose, audience, or
context.
2. Reading difficulty: student doesn’t understand the prompt or the attached article
that s/he is responding to.
3. Grammar/ syntax/ vocabulary difficulty: student consistently misuses words or
parts of speech; student cannot piece sentences together successfully; student
produces prose that “looks strange” to you.
We are attaching a few examples of texts that would fit these criteria. If you find a paper
that is borderline, by all means, send it along. We’ll let you know what we think. Thank
you in advance for your cooperation. Please feel free to contact Rebecca or Sujay with
any questions.
Sample One:
excerpt from an informative paper
Every single human being that live on this earth think that they are not the one
that causing pollution. We belay on each other instead of taking responsibility to our self.
The reason that everybody is being part of the global warming is that because of some the
things we use in or daily life. We drive our car ever time that we are going some where,
even some place that we go that aren’t necessary to drive. Some the energy that we use in
our house hold and some the waist that need to be recycled aren’t being propel recycled
al so caused global worming. Every year their more trees that are being destroyed that is
not necessary.
Sample Two:
summary of “Clan of the One-Breasted Women”
It is a semi-history of William’s close relationship with the natural world. Its
mainly focused on the impact of toxic environments on humans that is cause by
varies of things, such as: ground atomics testers. The contamination of the toxic
becomes a big concern for Williams and others. It killed thousands of people,
including her be loved mother and other members of her family. Although the
situation is serious from William’s tone of voice, the Nevada national security
puts people’s health as side; did not take it as to consideration. According to the
culture of Mormon (which William belong to), you have to take the law as it is.
Even though, most of the members of Mormon knew the problem, because of
the culture depression they kept the issue quietly.However, after a long
observation and Listening William and others who feel obligated and, hurt
enough decided to fight in order to sustain a healthy environment. That is how
and why Williams and her family belonged to the clean of One-breasted mother.
Sample Three:
conclusion from a critical essay
The scene in Gallup is the most important scene in Leslie Marmon Silko’s,
Ceremony, it is a diverse scene where you can pick out many different interpretations.
You can look at it is a mother-son relationship, with the little boy, and his mother, or the
lifestyle of the Native Americans. When looking at the scene it is a relationship of
whites, and Native Americans. A relationship that doesn’t exist, the lack of relationship
leads to the history, like the disputes the Native Americans dealt with, and their history
leads to their own culture. History makes a culture, makes you. The scene in Gallup is
the most important because one relationship can lead to many more. Our own
relationships can lead to our history, and our culture.