Book Review of Why They Can't Write by John Warner

Why They Can't Write. By John Warner. 2018. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN: 978-1-421-42711-7

“They just can't write!” It's a common faculty complaint: students don't seem to be able to coherently express their thoughts in writing. But while there is a considerable amount of faculty distress over students’ poor writing abilities (not to mention anxiety from students about their grades on any writing assignment), and a general consensus that the problem lies somewhere in K-12 education, faculty generally are unsure of how to help students improve their writing.

In his book Why They Can't Write, John Warner discusses the reasons students don't write well and what can be done to improve their writing. An instructor of writing for twenty years at multiple universities, Warner has developed a solid framework for addressing the root cause of student writing troubles and helping them develop as writers.

So why can't they write? Interestingly, it's not mobile devices, lack of instructional rigor, bad instruction, or lazy students. Instead, Warner writes, it's because we focus too much on teaching students how to write “properly”, that is, in a standard format. Remember the five-paragraph essay? This is the primary format for writing instruction in current K-12 education. For those of you who were fortunate enough to escape learning that particular writing format, the five-paragraph essay comprises an introductory paragraph, three paragraphs of explanation or idea development, and a concluding paragraph that generally starts with “In conclusion, …”. On top of that, each paragraph must be three to five sentences long and each sentence needs to be five to nine words. It's an extremely restrictive format that does not lend itself well to either scientific or creating writing.

If this format is so bad, then why do we still use it? The reason, Warner explains, is standardized testing. For example, the scorers for the writing section of the SAT had a maximum of three minutes to grade each essay. While the SAT no longer includes a writing section, other standardized writing tests are scored similarly. Additionally, students are often informed (or figure out) that accuracy of content takes second place to polysyllabic words and imposing-sounding phrasing. After all, if someone is frantically skimming an essay so they can meet their quota (yes, there are quotas for scorers), they don't have time to parse out the actual meaning of that flowery sentence and will likely score the essay well based on vocabulary.

Warner also notes that there are other problems in writing education that are general problems in our current educational system. These issues include an increase in student surveillance, constant pursuance of educational fads that lack supporting research, the perception of technology as a panacea for all educational woes, and proliferation of standardized testing. Together, these issues result in pressure on instructors to teach to the test and a general feeling among students that school is awful. Interestingly, Warner notes that students generally enjoy learning. They just don't like school. And that's not surprising, Warner writes, since the focus on standardized testing creates an enormous amount of stress and anxiety, not to mention that students often realize that all the memorization they're doing to pass the tests doesn't have a lot of use in the real world.

So, what can we do to help students become better writers? Warner proposes several key changes to writing instruction. First, students need writing experiences. But these shouldn't be limited to the usual term paper. Instead, students should be encouraged to write about topics that are meaningful to them. This will help motivate them to really think about what they are writing and do their best work. Students also need to learn how to think like writers. What point are they trying to make? Who is the audience? What knowledge do they need to successfully present their argument? Considering all of these questions will help students craft their writing appropriately. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, students need to learn the writing process and be held accountable for their own work. They need to experience the process of drafting, revising, and polishing their writing. Doing so under the guidance of an experienced writer is even more beneficial, as students can see how a more experienced writer interprets their writing and what suggestions they have for improvement.

All of this is great, but those are some pretty big changes. How can they be accomplished? Warner acknowledges that there are no quick fixes for making students better writers. He ends the book with suggestions of what can be done to start implementing the key changes discussed above and invites everyone to engage in conversation about teaching and learning writing, and how we can start improving it. This book ends on a positive note and leaves the reader energized and ready to help their students become better writers.

This book gave me some excellent ideas to help my students, particularly my graduate students, improve their writing. I have always reviewed my grads’ theses first for content, then for syntax. Over the past six years, I have switched from using Track Changes in Word to notations in comment for the syntax edits. I thought that would help my students learn how to write more clearly and with better flow: instead of just blithely accepting changes without looking at them, they would have to make those changes themselves. However, after reading Why They Can't Write, I realized that this practice still wasn't helping them. I was still dictating what their writing should look like instead of letting them explore different phrasings and content organization. I also wasn't actively modeling the writing process. My students were left to interpret why I left the comments on their own, which often led to a check-box mentality under which they just went through the document making changes without wondering why I suggested them or why the change was superior (at least in my opinion) to the original.

So far, my students are appreciative of these strategies and feel more comfortable about the writing process. We'll see how things go as they continue working on writing.