In: Social Issues

Lost Generation of Writers
Summary: “Are Writing Deficiencies Creating a Lost Generation of Business Writers?”
June 5, 2013

Summary: “Are Writing Deficiencies Creating a Lost Generation of Business Writers?” Employers and educators realize the importance of good writing skills but many business employees have writing deficiencies, costing American businesses billions of dollars every year. According to a study conducted by the National Commission on Writing (NCW) in 2004, American businesses may spend close to $3.1 billion yearly on the remediation of employees’ writing deficiencies. Consequently, employers are dissatisfied with employees writing skills and even more disappointed in the skills of new college graduates. Traditionally, grammar was taught using a rules-based approach which was also referred to as traditional school grammar (Hillocks & Smith, 2003). Rules-based approach focused on teaching grammar rules with emphasis on form (present, past …). Many educators condemned this type of approach, and research showed that it was an ineffective way to teach grammar. Students were simply taught a set of rules and presented with a set of usage exercises. There was very little teaching of how to use grammar in a communicative manner. Rules-based approach has since been abandoned due to opposition from educators and the decision of the National Council of Teachers of English to discourage its use. Researchers have since proposed the use of new approaches such as, context based approach introduced by Weaver (1996, 1998), and sentence-combining approach technique suggested by Hillocks and smith (2003) to name a few. Currently, the context based approach is the favored means of teaching grammar and punctuation. Grammar instructions are primarily taught using the body of work produced by the student. The