Written communication is jsut as important...
While certainly a dynamic and sensitive spoken communication style in the classroom is key, to often I see instructors underestimate teh importance of there written communication skills. Whether in lecture slides, assignment sheets, syllabi or email's, they let shoddy grammar, spelling an punctuation slide.
While its often lamented that today's young students lack the ability to rite in proper english, certain errors scream out, and at least one student will always catch them, even if they don't always point them out. At tat point, the instructor looses credibility and the weight of authority in correcting similar mistakes in the students' work.
Like in the above two paragraphs, where I intentionally left multiple word-usage errors, misspellings, misplaced apostrophes, and ironically failed to capitalize "english" (and yes, the typo in the subject line was intentional, placed there as bait).
Hurts to look at, don't it?
Written communication is very important because many students have a difficult time trying to take notes as the lecture is going on. If they do try to take notes, they are not paying attention to what is being explained. I hand out information that I want them to understand-all spelling correct- and then I lecture on each and every point. Doing it this way, they are getting the point plus not stressing out trying to keep up as always some students are slower than others. This also does not hold up the class.Lastly, as far as spelling goes, they have the correct spelling and are told to learn to spell the words correctly because they will get half a point off for each question with a misspelled word. This way, they learn the material and have to learn to spell correctly at the same time. Barb Jarosch
Too often our students allow their casual conversation style to spill into their written communication. With all the technological advances and communication forms, formal written communication is becoming harder for students to follow.
Seriously, right? We're supposed to be educators, but the number of very basic word usage errors I've seen in these discussions (your/you're, its/it's, there/their/there) is a bit frightening.
Patricia and Scott,
I try to show my students practical applications of basic English skills (written and verbal).
I prove to my students that most of them will not be able to succeed in their professional careers without the ability to write well!
Alas,it pains me to read some of the posts on this forum (no offense intended to anybody!)
Thank you for pointing it out!
Written communications (syllabi, handouts, assignments) reach out to diverse learning styles, but those communications should be gramatically correct and spelled correctly. After all, the instructor serves as a model for the business world, and business does not take kindly to mistakes in composition.
I actually got significantly distracted while reading your statement. I always double check my written communication before presenting it to students; however, mistakes often make it through. I find it best to just admit it to the students and use it as a teaching opportunity. Everyone makes mistakes. It isn't the end of the world, but when there are many mistakes, I think the students begin to think that the instructor doesn't care about the material.
