Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing

by Mina P. Shaughnessy

Book Overview

This book is mainly an attempt to be precise about the types of difficulties to be found in basic writing papers and beyond that, to demonstrate how the sources of those difficulties can be explained without recourse to such empty terms as 'handicapped' or 'disadvantaged.' This book is divided into sections of difficulty such as, handwriting and punctuation, syntax, common errors, spelling, vocabulary, and beyond the sentence.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195025075
• ISBN13: 9780195025071
• Release Date: February 1979
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

It's THE book

I can't agree with Dr. Bruce Leeds more. This is THE book for the teachers of basic writers. Also, it is food for thought for ESL writing teachers. This book is a classic. I am waiting for another equivalent classic for an ESL writing teacher like me.

The Best of Its Kind

With the patience and attention to detail of a saint, Professor Shaughnessy hunted, and found, patterns in her students' writing that allowed her to lift each student to his or her true potential. This is THE book for the teacher of basic, first-language writing. Her prose is stunning in itself and is a model for the kind of clear, elloquent writing she would espouse. Certainly the best of its kind and as yet to be equalled.

A humane, wise, window-opening book

In the dry world of composition theory, Shaughnessy's brilliantdiscussion of error in student writing stands as a landmark. Aftertwenty-plus years, this book remains highly readable and one of the half dozen most important books in the field. I particularly admire the writer's refusal to slip into the pseudo-scientific jargon that typifies the trendy, flimsy, unreadable literature that comprises the field of composition. Anyone who teaches writing at a high school or college level would benefit from reading this fine book.