{"id":199,"date":"2019-01-01T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-01-01T09:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writing993.sweetland.lsa.umich.edu\/?page_id=199"},"modified":"2026-01-07T14:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:40:15","slug":"responding-to-student-writing-part-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/writing993\/modules\/responding-to-student-writing-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"4. Responding to Student Writing: Working at the Sentence Level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Responding to Writing at the Sentence Level<\/svg><\/summary>\n

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Commenting at the sentence-level is a critical part of the feedback we can provide; however, we also want to comment in ways that don’t simply correct, but that help writers improve their clarity. This module provides strategies for providing useful and efficient sentence-level comments on student writing and save time.  We start with two readings and include a section to help you work with multilingual writers at the sentence-level.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

What Basic Principles Do I Need to Know?<\/svg><\/summary>\n

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Begin with these two readings on teaching writing at the sentence level:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Gottschalk and Hjortshoj, “Teaching Writing at the Sentence Level”<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Curzan, “Says Who? Teaching and Questioning the Rules of Grammar”<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n
    How Should I Address Sentence-Level Errors?<\/svg><\/summary>\n

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    Why not mark all the errors you see in a student paper? If we want students to improve as writers, why shouldn\u2019t we show them exactly what they\u2019ve done wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Gottschalk and Hjortshoj explain why this technique could backfire:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    However virtuous and dutiful your reasons for falling into the practice of line editing, most of that labor will be lost on your students. Those who will not rewrite the paper will simply register the mass and weight of your corrections in relation to the grade, without looking closely, and will perhaps conclude that they need to do better next time\u2014a value you could have gained simply by saying, This paper is error-ridden and disorganized. You need to do better next time.<\/em> Those who will rewrite the paper will simply make all of your corrections that they can decipher because you have, in effect, assumed responsibility for the quality of their work. (52)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Marking every error you see takes control of the paper out of the students\u2019 hands and places it squarely into yours.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

    How Can I Help Students Correct Their Own Sentence-Level Errors?<\/svg><\/summary>\n

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    However, this doesn\u2019t mean that issues of style and correctness shouldn\u2019t be attended to.  As the Structured Protocol explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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     If you wish, additionally, to comment on \u201clower order\u201d concerns (e.g., style, grammar, and\/or punctuation), please focus on just one or two patterns encountered throughout the essay, explain these in a separate paragraph of your head comment, and mark up only a single representative paragraph in the essay to model corrections.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Note that the suggestion mentions patterns. Limit your commenting to errors that occur consistently throughout the paper and are rule-bound (e.g., run-on sentences, comma splices, subject\/verb agreement). Marking one-off errors throughout the essay could distract students from focusing on more important issues they should attend to in revision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Remember:<\/em> only mark errors that you are prepared to teach to your students. If you think something “sounds wrong,” but aren’t certain how to explain the issue to students, leave it alone.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

    How Do We Help Students Distinguish Between Style and Correctness?<\/svg><\/summary>\n

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    Gottschalk and Hjortshoj emphasize the distinction for new instructors between correcting error and helping students make choices of style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    To think about how to help students at the sentence-level, therefore, we need to distinguish between helping students learn how to correct their mechanics, punctuation, and grammar and how to make wise choices of style.  These tasks call for attention at different points in the writing process and may call for different methods. (88)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    They suggest new instructors define key sentence-level terms such as mechanics, syntax, punctuation so that we don’t “confuse problems of error with matters of style.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The University of Michigan’s Anne Curzan argues that writing instructors encourage critical inquiry about the rules of language:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    …we must fundamentally rethink how we teach grammar in the classroom.  We and our students should not accept ‘Because’ as an appropriate answer if a student asks, ‘Why do I have to write this way?’  We must have a better explanation for them. (871)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Curzan helps instructors of writing draw useful distinctions between prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar — emphasizing the critical role of the conventions of Standard English and correctness, while also entering a conversation with our students about “who says?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    If we open up a conversation about ‘who says,’ students learn the usage conventions of written Standard English while being given the tools to challenge them appropriately.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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    She concludes with a proposal to “produce better learning in our classrooms.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    This proposal aims to energize the teaching of grammar (in the prescriptive and descriptive senses) — to transform it from behavior modification to engaged learning not only about language but about everything else that gets wrapped up in attitudes towards language.” (877)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    But you should check out her proposal for yourself.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

    How Else Can I Help Students Improve at the Sentence-Level?<\/svg><\/summary>\n

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    There are obviously many methods to work with your students on their sentences and some overlap in the approaches discussed here (yes, having students read their sentences aloud, for instance, can help them recognize their own patterns and hear their own emphasis).  But most critically, finding ways to help your students recognize and take control of each of their sentences can empower their writing and improve sentence-level clarity.  Here’s an additional handout to support you in working with your students on sentence-level issues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Responding to Writing at the Sentence Level<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n