Questions for discussion:
1. Do you agree with Shaughnessy’s that among the “varies” of English there is the “academic English” (774), the mastery of which could enhance students’ writing abilities, and therefore should be introduced into composition courses?
2. Do you agree with Lu’s criticism of Shaughnessy’s “essentialist view of language”? Do you find her argument that discursive differences among students are “always already political” convincing?
3. If composition courses are inevitably drenched in politics, how do you propose to teach? How could we better cope with the social and political undersides of the teaching of composition? Do you find Lu’s suggestion of “minimizing betrayal” through a combination of the contextual and formal approaches (779) applicable?
Quick activity:
Where do Lu and Shaughnessy’s theories overlap? Where do they differ? Draw a ven diagram to represent the similarities and differences.
