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My First Major Mistake as a Writing Instructor
My First Major Mistake as a Writing Instructor
Writing is a process. After coming here, my initial thought as an IGTA was, writing would be treated as a product. Hence, I bent on checking students’ grammar. Unfortunately, I remember giving my first feedback on one student’s assignment. Although I wrote my comments in a rewarding language, I made plenty of grammatical corrections in that student’s first draft. I should have overlooked them. Instead, I should have encouraged them to keep writing and follow the assignment instructions. After studying here, I now realize the mistakes I had made by always commenting on my Bangladeshi students’ grammatical constructions. Instead, my focus should have been on encouraging them to write with the Genre, Audience, Purpose, and Situation (GAPS) in mind. Whether it is in the USA or Bangladesh, every writer must know who the target audience is. They should use words and phrases that keep the audience in mind. Also, the knowledge of the genre convention, the rhetorical style, and the rhetorical situation play important parts in the development of a writer. Now, I am a different instructor. I always encourage students to chime in without tension.