Expos Report: TFs Should Have Stronger Role In Teaching Writing

A comprehensive new report on the Expository Writing program recommends a stronger role for TFs in teaching writing and more integration between Expos classes and the rest of the Harvard curriculum.

The report, authored by new program Director Nancy Sommers, emerged out of interviews with 30 professors from 20 different concentrations, 25 TFs from 19 concentrations and a survey of 123 juniors from the Class of 1994. President Neil L. Rudenstine commissioned it in February 1993.

The report is intended to generate discussion, not necessarily to spark immediate action, she said.

"Change happens slowly," Sommers said. "What I hope is that people will read the report and find something useful in it that will help them think about their own teaching."

Expos, a troubled program under former director Richard C. Marius, has been plagued by low teacher morale and complaints that writing is undervalued in the curriculum.

Looking Up

Under Sommers, however, many teachers said the program has been looking up.

Students surveyed rated their first-year Expos experience a 3.2, slightly above "adequate."

Echoing complaints made by teachers and professors last year, the report calls for Expos to work more closely with the rest of the curriculum.

"The most important thing I learned is that professors and students don't want Expos to be an isolated academic experience, that Expos cannot develop its goals in isolation," Sommers said.

Students need follow-up writing lessons and classes in their concentrations, said Dean for Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell.

"The students surveyed desire to have writing taught beyond the Expos level with specific reference to their disciplines of concentration," Buell said. "According to the study, [Expos] comes out pretty well but not perfectly."

The report also stresses the importance of section leaders in teaching writing.

"Once they were just the graders of papers," Sommers said. "Now they've taken on this tremendous responsibility" to meet with students and comment thoughtfully upon papers, she said.

The report said that students often find their TFs lacking, and TF's seem to agree.

"Teaching fellows want training in how to guide undergraduate writing," the report says.

The report also suggested that "faculty use lectures to discuss how writing illustrates a discipline's models of thinking."

One faculty member said he could see the use of talking about writing during lecture, but in moderation.

"I wouldn't want to think that everybody did that all the time, but I see that it might be useful," said Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy K. Anthony Appiah.

Sommers is already acting on at least one of the report's recommendations. She has been training TFs to teach writing in Core courses such as Gregory Nagy's Literature and Arts C-14, "The Concept of the Hero in Greek Civilization."

She also worked with Professor of Fine Arts Joseph L. Koerner last year to train TFs for his core class, Literature and Arts B-42, "The Altarpiece."

Whether the TFs for a course, however, participate in such training is completely at the discretion of the course head.

The Expos report was mailed to faculty members Tuesday, but those interviewed yesterday had yet to receive it.

The standing faculty committee on Expository Writing will discuss the report when it next meets, on November 29. Buell said the full Faculty, which would likely have to vote on a major curricular change, will likely not examine the report in its next meeting because it includes no recommendations

The report also stresses the importance of section leaders in teaching writing.

"Once they were just the graders of papers," Sommers said. "Now they've taken on this tremendous responsibility" to meet with students and comment thoughtfully upon papers, she said.

The report said that students often find their TFs lacking, and TF's seem to agree.

"Teaching fellows want training in how to guide undergraduate writing," the report says.

The report also suggested that "faculty use lectures to discuss how writing illustrates a discipline's models of thinking."

One faculty member said he could see the use of talking about writing during lecture, but in moderation.

"I wouldn't want to think that everybody did that all the time, but I see that it might be useful," said Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy K. Anthony Appiah.

Sommers is already acting on at least one of the report's recommendations. She has been training TFs to teach writing in Core courses such as Gregory Nagy's Literature and Arts C-14, "The Concept of the Hero in Greek Civilization."

She also worked with Professor of Fine Arts Joseph L. Koerner last year to train TFs for his core class, Literature and Arts B-42, "The Altarpiece."

Whether the TFs for a course, however, participate in such training is completely at the discretion of the course head.

The Expos report was mailed to faculty members Tuesday, but those interviewed yesterday had yet to receive it.

The standing faculty committee on Expository Writing will discuss the report when it next meets, on November 29. Buell said the full Faculty, which would likely have to vote on a major curricular change, will likely not examine the report in its next meeting because it includes no recommendations