Discovery Writing: How to Explore It Map It, and Cultivate It Well

Weber State University

For the past few years I have been asking my students to do mechanical or formal composition writing in Spanish in and out of my literature and culture courses. Such assignments have included research papers, book reviews, reports, essay exams, short reports on scholarly articles, and other written activities like note-taking, filling in blanks or writing brief phrases or simple sentences. I assigned such activities so that my students could demonstrate to me that they could generate a correct piece of writing and that they knew something about my subject areas in Hispanic literature and culture. I think these writing tasks provided data with which I could effectively evaluate my students, but I am convinced the assignments only incidentally or peripherally aided their learning. There is no doubt that the students learned and processed information in doing these assignments, but none of these tasks promoted writing primarily for the sake of the learner, nor did any of them encourage the students to make the subject matter of my courses their own. I, the professor, was the sole audience who evaluated my students according to the completeness and correctness of their final written product. My students traditionally wrote for me and seldom, if ever, for themselves.

This paper describes the use of «discovery writing» and how this type of writing can become central to teaching and learning in foreign language literature and culture courses. «Discovery writing» does not ask the question «Is this good writing?» but rather, «Does this writing effectively promote learning and critical thinking for the sake of the student?» At the very heart of this kind of writing is a focus on exploration, analysis and speculation in the content area that will benefit the student, rather than on busywork and evaluation or qualities and mechanics expected by the teacher.

This sort of writing has several characteristics that can get students and teachers excited about writing in literature and culture courses. First, such writing assignments are often short, not requiring a lot of time in or out of class. Second, this type of writing is private and informal, written primarily for the benefit of the writer. Third, it is often speculative, with the purpose of exploring ideas, clarifying concepts, finding a focus and discovering relationships. Fourth, discovery writing can be used to contribute to class discussion, thereby engaging the students more in their studies. Fifth, it is often unread by the teacher, promoting more self-awareness and speculation by the student in the subject matter. Sixth (but certainly not the least important), discovery writing is often ungraded, eliminating the need for the extensive instructional commentary, response and correction that formal, product-oriented assignments require.

The different types of discovery writing (Stephen N. Tchudi uses the term «workaday» writing⁸⁹) that we can assign in our literature and culture courses grow directly from available class time. Listed below are just a few of the discovery writing activities I assign in my classes to enhance learning and critical thinking.

Students write whatever comes into their minds during a period of from three to ten minutes at the beginning, middle or end of class in response to a reading, lecture or discussion. Often, after finishing El poema de Mío Cid, I ask my students to write for five minutes on what they believe the central theme to be. We then proceed to read each other's responses. On several occasions I ask them to write at the beginning of the class on the Cid's honor, loyalty to the King, his love for family and religion. In my Latin American culture course I often end the class by having my

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students write for five minutes in reaction to a spirited class discussion that has taken place, and then I use what they have written to begin the next class period.

This type of discovery writing does not require any kind of correction or response by me. Even though I collect the free writes from time to time to see what students are thinking and learning, they are self-assessing and lead directly into other class activities. Stephen Marcus of the University of California, Santa Barbara has developed many variations on this type of writing.⁹⁰

Toby Fulwiler of the University of Vermont strongly recommends the use of «journals across the disciplines»⁹¹. I have found them to be a valuable tool in literature and culture courses for students to practice imaginative and speculative thinking. Students use them actively to write in, read from and talk about. I ask students to write in their journals two times, a week outside of class. I specifically ask them to write on one of the following types of entries: 1) Responses to class readings: They discuss anything they feel affects them personally. 2) Responses to class discussions: After class, students jot down their ideas, feelings, questions, or observations of what has taken place in class. I encourage them to return to these entries from time to time and expand upon them after they have a more thorough understanding of the course material. 3) Speculation and consideration: After students have read each assignment in its entirety and taken part in the class discussions, they focus on an issue or theme and let their minds explore its significance, trying to relate it to other events in their lives. One student did this type of journal entry on the individuality of the Cid and then associated it to his own uniqueness in certain social situations. I am convinced this resulted in making the text more personal and promoting more self-awareness for this individual.

My classes are between twenty and twenty-five students, and I respond to each person's journal. I find myself deeply engaged with their exploration, speculation, questions, relationships and reflections. I get first-hand knowledge of the students' interaction with the course material. Several class members who want me to respond to a particular entry write «ojo» beside it. It is a treat to scan and respond to journals. Part of the reason for this, I believe, is that I do not have to focus on spelling, punctuation and usage, but rather on discovery and exploration. It is surprising, however, how grammatical their journal writing is. When students write about ideas to which they are personally committed, their ability to write in the target language is freer of errors⁹². Journals provide me with a record in order to monitor the thinking of students. I get to know them well, which in turn helps me to measure my performance as a professor. There are times when I become aware of the need to clarify certain concepts and readings because of what I read in the journals.

James Britton supports the idea of journal writing in his study that investigates the relationship between writing and learning. He finds that a significant measure of exploratory, speculative and reflective writing will enhance both learning and critical thinking.⁹³

One of the most successful discovery writing activities I use is a type of electronic bulletin board or mailbox. An IBM computer now serves as a record of communal learning. Once a week students enter questions, conjectures, testimonies (and, yes, some informal discussion) about what is happening in the classroom. This has turned out to be an effective way for the students to respond to each other and not exclusively to the professor. After they enter their comments on the computer, they sign off with their anonymous nicknames and anxiously await replies, reactions and suggestions from their peers. I encourage the students to focus on course content and to omit anything of a personal nature.

This computer writing activity has turned out to be a useful way to clarify concepts for some and to share information publicly and productively with others. In many cases the writers' personalities are reflected in their responses and reactions, which has often generated an interest in discussing these comments in the next class.

I print all the entries each day of the week and then put them up on the wall outside the computer room. This way students can see and read what their colleagues and friends have written without scrolling through each entry on the computer.

This use of the computer is a practical way to give a voice to the shy or reluctant student who chooses not to participate in class. Some of the very best entries have been from the most introverted students who prefer to participate through writing instead of through oral responses in class.

Twice a quarter I have my literature and culture students engage in a collaborative writing exercise so that they can learn to write together as a group. My purpose is twofold: first, to have the students understand that even though school writing is often designed to be done by one person, writing with others promotes communal and collaborative learning which, in some cases, serves the students better than writing alone; and secondly, to give them a chance to practice the kind of writing that goes on in the real world, where on-the-job writing tasks are frequently done by more than one person.⁹⁴

I divide my classes into groups of four or five students and assign them different subjects or themes on which they must collaborate and on which they must submit a paper as a group. Each student in the group is required to contribute to the final written document. Some portion of each student's contribution must also be included when the final product is read aloud. This writing activity also turns out to be an exercise in diplomacy and cooperation among the students.

In my Survey of Spanish Literature course, using groups of five students each, I assign one of the following topics and themes to each of the groups: 1) the individualism of the Cid; 2) the honor of the Cid and the defense of his honor; 3) the loyalty of the Cid toward King Alfonso; 4) the democratic spirit of the poem; 5) the hostility of the poet toward the nobility. I give each group fifteen minutes at the end of class for three class periods to write on their assigned topic and to decide how each student's contribution will be included in the final report. The groups make arrangements to meet outside of class to work on this assignment. I assign one student the role of scribe. It is amazing what concise reports each group produces. Even though some groups agonize over their final product, this activity turns out to be very successful because students engage personally with the subject matter. It also turns out to be an effective and concise summary of El poema de Mío Cid.

Some time ago, a student suggested that our culture course publish a newsletter on the different cultural topics and materials we were discussing. She and the majority of the other students in the class had lived abroad in a Spanish-speaking country for at least two years and had brought back many cultural tidbits they wanted to share, but we did not have time to do this in class. I liked the suggestion but felt that such a writing assignment had no place in my culture course. Little did I know that this task would promote much more integrative and inquiry-centered learning than the rote or formal type of learning around which my teaching at that time revolved. Only later did I realize that publishing a newsletter is an effective means of promoting integrative learning.

Taking advantage of an IBM compatible computer in our department, and the WordPerfect word processing program that accompanies it, I am able to create a newsletter. I do this by using the «Text Columns» feature which generates newspaper-style columns ideal for this type of project. As the students type in the information they wish to share with their classmates and others, the text flows continuously up and down through the columns. The students never have to worry about cutting and pasting what they have written because the newsletter has been preformatted. The only task required of them is to enter their text. Using a PC and WordPerfect has made publishing a newsletter a simple but valuable writing activity.

The students now publish their newsletter, La voz española, twice a quarter. They find time to enter parts of their text at different times of the day. Since most of their reports are relatively short, they have had no problem gaining access to the computer. I now assign pairs of students to read each other's entries for the purpose of helping with minor grammar and style problems. A Spanish speller is available to help them eliminate spelling errors.

At the end of both the fourth and ninth weeks, I place a copy of La voz española on each of the several bulletin boards near our department. Some of the articles concern the drug problem in Colombia and other Latin American countries; contemporary Spanish musical groups; food recipes; interviews with native speakers on a variety of cultural subjects; editorials on U.S. involvement in Panamá, Nicaragua, El Salvador, etc.; Spanish-speaking radio stations in town; videos available in Spanish; jokes; reactions to class lectures; the gang wars; and summaries of novels, dramas, poetry and essays. Unlike notes copied in class, this type of discovery writing encourages students to engage personally with the course content and course material.

As has been pointed out, writing activities can clearly promote independent thought in our foreign language culture and literature courses. Discovery writing, for example, seems more likely to advance thought and integrative learning than the mere note copying or mastery of fixed concepts on which many professors concentrate almost exclusively. Discovery writing serves the individual writer and thus generates more extended thought and learning.

In my experience, students respond better when writing assignments are informal, expressive and personal in nature, with less focus on the teacher and less emphasis on the mechanical and trivial aspects of these assignments. Randal Freisinger states that «Excessive reliance on the transactional function of language may be substantially responsible for our students' inability to think critically and independently... Product oriented, transactional language promotes closure»⁹⁵. «Product oriented» writing in our classrooms appears to be more and more the objective of our courses. If recent reports are correct, too many instructors are stressing superficialities, mechanics and accuracy at the expense of analysis and speculation.

We can help students develop the kind of vision they need in their studies by designing writing activities that keep speculation and exploration at the center of course work. This is an effective method of introducing writing into our foreign language literature and culture courses, as well as into other types of courses, which serves as a tool for learning, rather than as a means for regurgitating of rote facts. As so aptly stated by Glenn Morocco and Margot Soven, «Writing as a means of self-expression has not been emphasized nor has the full potential of writing as a learning tool been explored».⁹⁶

Hispania [Publicaciones periódicas]. Volume 75, Number 2, May 1992