RE: Writing in the workplace (long)

[Barry Maid <bmmaid@ualr.edu>]

Centaurs:

First of all, I'd like to thank Paula and her daughter for beginning this 
discussion.  I think it's an important discussion for not just Writing 
Center folks but all writing professionals.

I'm not surprised by Leigh's comments.  As someone who does training for 
workplace groups, I would say that 95% of the time I get called in it's 
to "teach 'em grammar."  I'd also say that at least 90% of the time 
grammar is the least of their needs.

Notice Leigh's two examples:

>Neal is our current CEO. 
>Allan mentioned his pet peeve that neither one knows the difference
>between "I" and "me".  They both say, "Bob told Joe and I..." 

and

>A much more serious offense, in my opinion, is that Bobbie never uses
>capital letters in any of her internal communications (memos in e-mail
>form). 

Both are micro issues.  The first is a grammatical issue.  However, this 
hypercorrection has become so common in the past decade that otherwise 
literate people use it constantly.  The second may be more a confusion of 
the informality of the medium.

I do think both issues can be addressed, but that they're not really a 
big deal.

Perhaps the more important issue here is the underlying one that maybe 
we, as professionals, don't really know what's important.  I'd suggest 
just the opposite.  We *do* know what we're doing.  I think our methods 
of instruction whether in the classroom or training workshops *do* work.

It may be that our most difficult problem is that in the public's mind 
good writing=good grammar.  It's also much easier for a non-professional 
to identify the micro-level issues.

I do, however, wonder who Jon's been talking to who tells him that

>I wonder if we in the academy
>push our writing agendas a little too hard and don't always listen to folks
>in the workforce who say they really don't do much writing; what little
>they do is only done a sentence or two at a time.

My experience with workplace professionals is just the opposite.  When 
asked to account for how they spend their time, they spend a tremendous 
amount writing.  Now I would agree that we in the academy too often push 
"our" kind of writing on folks.

Enough for now, I've got to read some student writing.

Barry Maid
bmmaid@ualr.edu