Giving Them What They Want: Student Views of Revision.

To elicit some written comments about student views of revision, an English professor surveyed about 100 students in several different composititm classes regarding what they would do if given the opportunity to revise a class paper. More than 807. of the responses explicitly mentioned errors in spelling, mechanics, or grammar. Several students explicitly equated revision with editing. Students who tried to see revision as something more than mere editing met with varying degrees of success. Many students seemed to tie revision closely to teacher requests. In a related study, over 400 students rated the "helpfulness" of a variety of teacher comments. Findings offer additional evidence that students want to do what they think teachers want them to do. Students preferred teach. :. sr comments that told them just what to do and how to do it. Students might see revision in hierarchical terms--until they correct the errors pointed out by the teacher, they are not going to worry about trying to improve the content or organization of their ideas. The challenge for teachers is to decide what they really want and then let students know what it is. (Contains a diagram illustrating a hierarchy of needs.) (RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Tom Thompson English Dept, The Citadel Charleston, SC 29409 Giving Them What They Want: Student Views of Revision CCCC Presentation Nashville, TN March 18, 1994 Before trying to deccribe student views of revision, let me describe what seems to be a popular teacher's view. Toby Fuiweiler's article on "Provocative Revision" in the Spring 1992 issue of The Writing Center Journal suggests teaching revision as "limiting," "adding," "switching" and "transforming. " In their composition textbook Inside Out: A Guide to Writing (Allyn and Bacon, 1993), Maurice Scharton and Janice Neuleib explicitly distinguish between "editing" (to clarify the meaning of a text) and "revising" (to change the meaning of a text); they define "revision" as "the process of adding, deleting, or rearranging significant pieces of text" (179). But for some reason, studentsat least the ones I've encounteredseem to have different ideas about revision. To elicit some written comments about student views of revision, I surveyed about a hundred students in several different composition classes, asking them the following question: "When (or if) you are given the opportunity to revise a class paper, what do you do? " More than 80% of responses I received explicitly mentioned "correcting" the errors, and most of them specifically mentioned errors in spelling, mechanics or grammar. For example, one student wrote, "All I really do is correct the errors the teacher has pointed out. Like, fix comma errors, grammar, and the composition of the paper. " This comment gives lip service to "the composition of the paper," but there's no explanation of what that phrase means to that student. Note, too, that this student doesn't correct all the errors, but only t'). e ones pointed out by the teacher. So much for initiative. Another student explicitly equated revision with editing: "Revision to me means going over a rough draft and editing it. Sometimes changing structure, grammatical errors such as punctuation and spelling. " This student mentions "changing structure," but doesn't indicate whether that refers to essay-level changes U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office ot Eclucabonal Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) VMS document has been reprobuCed as rece.ved Iron, the person or organaaboo pr,g,nahng . 1 C' ',Amor changes have been nail, to . mbrOve reproduct.o. Oufl lity Pnts of vle O op.mons stated . n Ifs CJOCu mem do not neessaray reoreser OE RI pos.t. on or bohcy 1 2 -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GHANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI." Giving Them What They Want 2 or simply re-wording sentences. A third student made the process sound more involved, but essentialiy said the same thing: "If I am given the opportunity to revise a paper the steps I take are as follows: I read the teacher comments; correct marked errors; re-read the paper; take it to my tutor to help me with punctuation, run spell check, re-print, re-read." Notice there's no mention of adding, deletirg, or changing large sections of textjust an emphasis of "fixing" whatever is "wrong." A number of students seemed to try to see revision as something more than mere editing, but with varying degrees of success. For example, one compared it to sculpting: "When I go about revising a paper, I take it like a piece of crude rock and try to carve it into a statue or work of art. First I corm : all grammatical mistakes. Then I check transitions from ¶ to T. Nex.c I recheck all spelling. Finally, I make all corrections suggested by other sources, and I retype it and print it out." Like many student responses, this one begins with an idea that might suggest a mature view of revision, but then quickly shifts to the more conventional talk about correcting grammar, transitions and spelling. (I wonder whether this student thinks that sculptors work by "correcting errors" in the stone.) Another student focused on making the writing "sound right": "First I read through the paper. If anything sounds strange or does not flow smoothly I try to find a way to reword the phrase. If I cannot find a way to rephrase I delete the phrase. " This student apparently sees revision as including sentence-level changes and deletions, but there's nothing to suggest that changes above the sentence level are part of the picture. One of the few students who mentioned "organization" at all had this to say: "Revising a F. e per consists of making correctionsbot . orammatically and structurally. When revising, first I make structural corrections, such as sentence structure, 5. entence variation, coherence, and smoothness with a well organized backbone. After completing this, I make corrections in spel'ng and punctuation. Then I make a final draft, which is proofread once more and any needed corrections are made, followed by another final draft. " This is probably the most sophisticated view of revision I got, but even though it includes references to "structur2" and