In Black and Write

“To achieve the impossible; it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.”

-Tom Robbins

A Situation in Rhetoric – McGee & Ericsson

My thoughts on the article “The politics of the program: MS WORD as the invisible grammarian” by McGee & Ericsson.

When creating the article, McGee & Ericson had to consider who they were trying to address and what it is they were trying to get that audience to accomplish after reading the article. The audience, as made clear by the platform on which it was published and the context of the article, would be lower level composition teachers in the English language; particularly those instructors most interested in linguistics and technology. 

That being said, the purpose of the article was to address the ever changing dynamics and tools of writing and how current technologies change the writing styles of student writers. The goal was to better utilize the imperfect tools at their disposal to best help students with their writing. The 2000 update of MSGC was the context for why the article was written at that particular time, it was a response to the new update and how it has been bettered and what it still lacks for instructional purposes. So ideally, the end goal of the article was to explain how to best use and not use the program in a classroom environment. 

As technology becomes more and more widespread in education, it is imperative that students and instructors become familiar with the strengths and short-comings of the MSGC program. The rhetor wants the audience to know what tools are at their disposal and how to better utilize the technological tools to improve the writing of students. 

Personally, MSGC has hindered my written more than it has helped. The program does not take into consideration the context behind the rhetorical situation at hand; it follows the strict grammar rules that are considered “universal,” without considering the variations in all grammar practices. I have gotten into the habit of using MSGC as a final check in the revision process of my academic writings. It is helpful only after a first and second draft are completed to check over what the final product will be to ensure flow and readability. I wouldn’t agree to grammar check being a requirement in an instructional setting, but it should be discussed as yet another revision tool to finalize a final draft before submission.

McGee & Ericsson Summary – What’s the article even about?

In the 2002 Computers and Composition article, The politics of the program: MS Word as the invisible grammarian, Tim McGee and Patricia Ericsson discuss the strengths and short-comings of Microsoft Grammar Check and how it can be utilized to assist teachers in better instructing their writing students. The authors give multiple reasons why MSGC is a useful tool in a teaching environment; including, “its ubiquity, its near invisibility, its increasing power, its theoretical mismatch , and,….,its actual conflict with…..pedagogies that are now considered most effective for improving student writing.”(455) The rhetors go on to divide the article into these sections and describe how it is MSGC exemplifies these qualities and how teachers can use it in their instructions. McGee and Ericsson argue for the potential usefulness MSGC has for writing instruction, however, the final line of the article “We hope we have wrested some power from the Microsoft necromancers and put it back into more capable hands-yours.”(466) After dissecting who wrote the program, the authors implore their audience to do their own research and find the best way to utilize this free software to help their students improve their own writing.

A Dangerous Situation – Selfe

My thoughts on the article “Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention” by Cynthia L. Selfe

Cynthia L. Selfe’s article Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Pay Attention addresses Humanist instructors, specifically Composition Specialists. She wrote with the purpose to inform her audience why it is important to pay attention to technology issues “that of trying to understand and make sense of, to pay attention to, how technology is now inextricably linked to literacy and literacy education in this country.”(414) Her intent was also to call her colleague to action, to point out that their avoidance of technology in composition settings is a choice that puts them at a disadvantage when preparing their students for an increasingly technological world. The article was written in 1999, following the election of the Clinton-Gore administration. After Clinton’s election, a push began moving towards more technological use in the education field, linking literacy and technology in new and complex ways. Getting America’s Children Ready for the Twenty-First Century, was published a few years before Selfe’s article, therefore she is addressing the new definition of “literacy,” to include technology literacy, as stated in the document and the movement it purposed. By paying attention to technology issues we can re-learn lessons about literacy. For example, historically there has been an attempt to divide the education by race and socioeconomic background. The push towards “technological literacy” is no different, as statistically lower socioeconomic schools have less access to the internet and computers than their higher level counterparts. “Computers continue to be distributed differentially along the related axes of race and socioeconomic status and this distribution contributes to ongoing patterns of racism and to the continuation of poverty.”(420) Selfe is trying to express to her audience that by ignoring technology or by using it as an instructional tool only contributes to the inequality cycle characterized by education in the country. 

Selfe Summary – What is it about?

In the College Composition and Communication article “Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention” by Cynthia L. Selfe she argues why it is not a beneficial thing for composition specialists to ignore or avoid critical use of technology with their students in a classroom setting. Selfe states “many teachers of English composition feel it antithetical time their primary concerns and many believe it should not be allowed to take up valuable scholarly time.”(412) She describes her experience with the avoidance policy of most composition teachers when technology is involved in the discourse. After stating these observations, she begins her argument as to why this is a detrimental practice among her colleagues. She utilizes the most recent statistics in distribution of technological resources to show how the continued ignorance of technology adds to the inequality cycle that defines the education system in this country. By the end of her article, Selfe calls her colleagues to action in order “to admit, I believe, that we are, in part, already responsible for a bad—even a shameful—situation, and I hope, will inspire us to do something more positive in the future.” (415) Ideally, asking them to add technology not only as an instructional tool, but as an ongoing skill to refine as technology advances.