On my mind–Emig citing Jakobovits. Any guesses when Jakobovits
likened composition to stale art?:
The linguist Leon A. Jakobovits suggests that "stale art" is
algorithmic–that is, it is produced by a known algorithm, "defined as a
computational device that specifies the order and nature of the steps to be
followed in the generation of a sequence." One could say that the major
kind of essay too many students have been taught to write in American schools
is algorithmic, or so mechanical that a computer could readily be programmed
to produce it: when a student is hurried or anxious, he simply reverts or
regresses to the only program he knows, as if inserting a single card into his
brain.
From Janet Emig’s "Lynn: Profile of a Twelfth-Grade Writer."
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/%5Babbrev. URL -DM]
cgb
What ever happened to stylometrics? [Shuffling through papers].
Emig’s book had great influence on me when I read it circa 1978. She helped me to see the importance of looking carefully at what each student is writing and responding to that person, not some construct of what I think the paper should look like.