Response to Limerick

I agree with Limerick that professors try to use language that is uncomprehendible for students. Because of this, students are learning at a slower rate, or are not learning at all.

I feel that this might be more a thing of the past, however. Nowadays I think that profs go out of the way to be easily reachable and are flexible for discussing questions and concerns via e-mail or office meetings. Academic language is oftentimes supposed to sound wordy because it makes it seem more legitimate. I believe that the college you choose to go to also will have an impact on how professors write and choose books. In the midwest, for example at Bowling Green, I would expect the readings to differ from a student at Harvard. That prestigious school has to live up to a standard, and the profs have to be the most knowledgeable and live up to that specific standard. So yes, I agree there is a problem, but I understand why it is that way.

Rubin Response

One of the factors mentioned in the Rubin article was the lack of student and professor communication skills. This is an important aspect of discourse community because without these proper communication interactions, the academic community can miss or misinterpret many things that go on in the classroom such as sylllabus understanding and participation. An example used in Rubin's article is on page 153 when the author states that some syllabi that are used by some professors can often be generalized without much specification or principle explained about the format or schedule of the class. I believe that good communication and repoire between students and professors must come from both sides' participation and efforts to understand each's position they take in the academic community.

Response to Limerick

Limerick discusses the problem of communication in academic discourse between readers and writers. She gives examples of readings that professors assign their students filled with long, dry, and overly complicated sentences. I have been in several classes where I feel that the professors’ choice of textbook was incomprehensible. As a student, I dread doing reading for such classes. Professors are not teaching well when they choose a textbook contains very lengthy chapters that have one sentence after the other which require three times to read because the wording is so confusing; instead, they are wasting a students time and only creating frustration for the material.

danni boyd

response to Limerick

One problem that Patricia Limerick describes in her piece is the inability of students to ask questions regarding academic readings. She says in every other form of communication, when people don't understand what is being said, they ask questions. Within academic discourse students are unable to ask professors questions for fear of being called dumb or stupid. According to Limerick this is because professors like to think that the way that they write is so sophisticated that only those with extreme intelligence can understand the literature. If students were able to clearly understand academic writing, it would, in many ways, dumb down the intelligence of those who wrote the article.

I completely agree with Limerick that academic writing can be very wordy and tough to understand. I also think that many within the discourse community write in such a way that allows him or her to feel smart and intelligent. The writings, in my opinion are done to build the self-confidence of the writer, not inform the reader.

Response to Limerick

sept 7th 2007 post

I believe that the relationship between the student and the professor is the main idea in Rubins reading. I think that professors should have open communication with their students. E-mails for example shouldn't have to have structures to them where the student feels that they have to be prim and proper every time. I believe that the student should be able to joke and get to know their professors. I also agree that most syllabus's are confusing and misleading. I also feel that professors are always hard to get a hold of. They need to make time outside of class to help and maintain a relationship with their students. I totally agree with the reading and found it to be really interesting. This is something I feel is over-looked all the time on college campus's.

Rubin

One of the problems listed in Rubin's article pertained to the relationships between professors and students. Rubin explained how the communication between professors and students is the main problem instead of an inadequate syllabus. In order for a student to get the most out of a class it is important that they feel safe in the classroom setting that they are in which usually means having a relationship with the professor. In my education class, one of the first things that an educator is supposed to do is to get to know their students and make them feel like they can come to them whenever they need help. If professors don't take the time, then to students it shows they don't care and it will be hard to approach them when they actually need help. In order for professors and students to get the most out of a class there needs to be communication done by both sets.