What We Learned From the Balls In Our Lives by Russell Hare

I really enjoyed David Russell’s writing on Activity Theory, well everything except that it was over 30 pages. The readings in this class have been difficult and I have occasionally struggled with completely understanding the message the authors are trying to get across and I think even misinterpreting their content at times. So this article served as a sort of revelation for me because it seemed very clear and this also has helped me gain a better understanding of previous readings (I think).

Anyway, the ball analogy was a simple and effective way of illustrating a very important point about how writing is taught in our educational system.

Russell explains that there are a huge variety of games that can be played with a ball, but each game has its own specific rules, equipment (tools), and skills necessary for that particular game. Even though there are so many games that use a ball, Russell points out, “there is no autonomous, generalizable skill called ball-using or ball-handling that can be learned and then applied to all ball games” (Russell, p. 9). The same is true for writing, there are countless styles and contexts in which writing is used, but just like the ball game analogy, there is no generalizable skill that can make you proficient with all different types of writing.

I have been working in the ESL center and the myth of “general writing skills,” or students either being “good writers” or “poor writers” has been exposed quickly. The ESL center offers assistance to international and second language students for any kind of language skills, whether it is speaking, writing, reading, or listening. But, students tend to come in for writing assignments. So far I have helped students write a business memo, research essays on topics such as “big data” (data pulled from internet sources like social media for marketing or behavioral research), a master’s project, and also the more traditional five-paragraph essay assigned from an English class (not ENGL 130, but EFLN 170). All of these require different writing skills and approaches. A business memo has almost no resemblance to a five-paragraph essay. The variety of assignments brought into the ESL center can make the job pretty challenging. In a lot of way I am in the center as a tutor because I am viewed as having the general skill of writing, which we know is not really an accurate concept. As a result, I have to remind the students coming in for tutoring that I am not well versed in writing a business memo or a masters project (I did everything I could to avoid having to write a masters project or thesis). However, since the ESL center is for second language students, I can still edit grammatical mistakes or let them know if the writing seems clear to me as an objective reader who hasn’t been exposed to the material. Anything further than that is really beyond my scope because as I mentioned I do not know the specific style or idiosyncrasies of each writing genre.

It’s clear to me that students can’t learn “general writing” and the only way to learn certain genres is to be an active participant in that genre’s setting or community. When students present me a five-paragraph essay and ask, “is it right to do it this way, or is that wrong?” I try to explain to them that for this assignment you might be asked to do things a certain way, but there isn’t a “right” or “wrong” way to write. It depends on the teacher, the discipline, and the goal or objective you are trying to accomplish. I also tell them not to be surprised when they leave take other courses outside of composition when their new professor asks them to disregard what they previously learned or asks them to adapt their writing style. I tell them they way they are expected to write will be continuously changing based upon the situations in which they find themselves writing.