I think Shaughnessy’s concern about the rules is a huge part of what makes students struggle as writers. Reading it, I wondered what the advantages of learning how to teach ESL courses and applying those strategies to teaching English composition. So much of the English language and the linguistic rules hide in the background that students who become obsessed with the fear they may write something wrong. Every time after my writing group I send a quote from a writer that I enjoy, and so many of them amount to sit down and put words on a page. That’s the first step to writing, and if that habit is continued, the writing will simply get better because practice works.

While I do think that writing is an important part of interacting with the world, especially in terms of email communication, writing resumes, and cover letters, I think it is important to respect that not everyone wants to be an academic writer. Oftentimes, I worry that writing instructors are a little too overawed by the beauty of their craft and forget that, like dance, writing isn’t everyone’s number one goal in life. I believe if writing was shown to be more practical by focusing on real life situations—like we do with the email to a classmate—I think students will be more invested in writing. It seems logical that this writing should start before a university composition course.

So, the two big obstacles that I see between students in their writing are that they learn to fear rules rather than using them comfortably and then not understanding that writing serves them. My instinct for the first problem is to change the grading system so that letter grades lose their power and student labor is rewarded more, with the focus being on learning rather than a result. For the second issue, it seems like reformatting curriculum for a higher degree of student choice in terms of projects they would like to work on, as well as consistently including real life writing with real life stakes. The real life writing could be letters to friends, family, the editor, and resumes, cover letters, or short essay practice.

Regardless of the solution, it’ll take a while to change our system.