Reference no: EM133682763

Questions for Discussion and Journaling

1. Sommers says that the language students use to describe revision is about vocabulary, suggesting that they "understand the revision process as a rewording activity" (para. 9). How is that different from the way she argues that revision should be understood?

2. Is it important that Sommers elected to identify her two groups of writers as student and experienced writers rather than as, for example, novice and professional writers? What alternative terms might you choose to identify these groups? Do the terms make a difference?

3. In her introduction and in analyzing students' descriptions of revision, Sommers focuses quite a lot on the difference between speech and writing. In your words, what is she saying that difference is between the two, and why is this difference relevant to how we understand revision?

4. In paragraph 19, Sommers writes that for experienced writers, revision strategies are "a process of more than communication; they are a part of the process of discovering meaning altogether." What does she seem to mean by "discovering meaning"? How is "discovering meaning" different from "communication"? Does Sommers's emphasis on writing as an act of making meaning relate to anything else you've encountered in this book?