Frequency of Formal Errors in Current

College Writing, or
Ma and Pa Kettle Do Research
Robert J Connors and !ndrea ! "unsfbrd
Proem: #n Which the Characters !re #ntroduced
$he labyrinthine %ro&ect of 'hich this research is a %art re%resents an ongoing acti(ity for us, something 'e engage in
because 'e li)e to 'or) together, ha(e a long friendshi%, and share many interests !s 'e 'or)ed on this error research
together, ho'e(er, 'e started some'here along the line to feel less and less li)e the 'hite*coated Researchers of our dreams
and more and more li)e characters 'e called Ma and Pa Kettle+good*hearted bumblers stri(ing to understand a 'orld
'hose com%le,ity 'as more than a little daunting -eing fans of classical rhetoric, prosopopoeia, letteraturizzazione, and
the li)e, as 'ell as enthusiasts for interte,tuality, plaisir de texte, differance, etc, 'e offer this account of our tra(ails+'ith
a%ologies to Mar&orie Main and Percy Kil*bride
Exordium: $he Kettles .mell a Problem
Mar)ing and &udging formal and mechanical errors in student %a%ers is one area in 'hich com%osition studies seems to ha(e
a multi%le*%ersonality disorder On the one hand, our mello', student*centered, %rocess*based sel(es tend to condemn
mar)ing formal errors at all Doing it re%resents the -ad Old Days Ms Fidditch and Mr Flutesnoot 'ith shar%ened red
%encils, s%illing innocent blood across the %age /seless detail 'or) #nhumane, %erfectionist standards, ma)ing our
students feel stu%id, 'rong, tri(ial, misunderstood Jose%h Williams has %ointed out ho' arbitrary and conte,t*bound our
&udgments of formal error are !nd certainly our noting of errors on student %a%ers gi(es no one any great &oy0 as Peter
Elbo' says, English is most
Robert J Connors is an associate %rofessor of English at the /ni(ersity of 1e' 2am%shire $he author of many articles on rhetorical history and
theory, he 'as the 'inner of the 3456 Richard -raddoc) !'ard !ndrea ! "unsford is %rofessor of English and 7ice*Chair for Rhet oric and Com%osition
at $he 8hio .tate /ni(ersity .he has %ublished numerous articles and 'as co*'inner, 'ith "isa Ede, of the 3459 Richard -raddoc) !'ard -ob and
!ndrea are coauthors of the forthcoming St. Martin's Handbook.
College Com%osition and Communication, 7ol :4, 1o ;, December 3455 :49
396 College Composition and Communication 39 (December 1988)
often associated either 'ith grammar or 'ith high literature+<t'o things designed to ma)e
fol)s feel most out of it<
1e(ertheless, (ery fe' of us can deny that an outright comma s%lice, its= it>s error, or
miss%elled common 'ord distracts us .o our more traditional %edagogical sel(es feel a touch
guilty 'hen 'e ignore student error %atterns altogether, e(en in the sacrosanct drafting .tage
of com%osing 1ot e(en the most liberal of %rocess*oriented teachers com%letely ignores the
%roblem of mechanical and formal errors !s Mina .haughnessy %ut it, errors are <unin*
tentional and un%rofitable intrusions u%on the consciousness of the reader $hey demand
energy 'ithout gi(ing bac) any return in meaning< ?36@ Errors are not merely mechanical,
therefore, but rhetorical as 'ell $he 'orld &udges a 'riter by her mastery of con(entions, and
'e all )no' it .tudents, %arents, uni(ersity colleagues, and administrators e,%ect us to deal
someho' 'ith those unmet rhetorical e,%ectations, and, li)e it or not, %oint ing out errors
seems to most of us %an of 'hat 'e do
8f course, e(ery teacher has his or her ideas of 'hat errors are common and im%ortant, but
testing those intuiti(e ideas is something else again We became interested in error*frequency
research as a result of our historical studies, 'hen 'e realiAed that no ma&or nation'ide
analysis of actual college essays had been conducted, to our )no'ledge, since the late 34:Bs
!s %art of the bac)ground for a te,t 'e 'ere 'riting and because the research seemed fas*
cinating, 'e determined to collect a large number of college student essays from the 345Bs,
analyAe them, and determine 'hat the ma&or %atterns of formal and mechanical error in
current student 'riting might be
Narratto: Ma and Pa Visit the Library
Coming to this research as historians rather than as trained e,%erimenters has gi(en us a
humility based on se(eral different sources .ince 'e are not formally trained in research
design, 'e ha(e constantly relied on hel% from more e,%ert friends and colleagues Creating a
sense of our limitations e(en more )eenly, ho'e(er, ha(e been our historical studies 1o one
loo)ing into the history of research on com%osition errors in this country can emerge (ery
confident about definitions, terms, and %reconce%tions #n almost no other %edagogical area
'e ha(e studied do the in(estigators and 'riters seem so time*bound, so shac)led by their
ideas of 'hat errors are, so blin)ered by the definitions and demarcations that are %art of their
historical scene !nd, inelucta*biy, 'e must see oursel(es and our study as history*bound as
'ell $hus 'e 'rite not as the torchbearers of some ne' truth, but as t'o more in the long line
of %eo%le a%%lying their contem%orary %ers%ecti(es to a numbering and ordering system and
ho%ing for something of use from it
$he tradition of research into error %atterns is as old as com%osition teaching, of course, but
before the gro'th of the social*science model in education
frequency of formal Errors in Current College Writing 397
it 'as carried on informally $eachers had <the list< of serious and common errors in their
heads, and their lists 'ere %robably substantially similar ?although <serious< and <common<
'ere not necessarily o(erla%%ing categories@> -eginning around 343B, ho'e(er, teachers and
educational researchers began trying to ta,onomiAe errors and chart their frequency $he great
heyday of error*frequency seems to ha(e occurred bet'een 3439 and 34:9 During those t'o
decades, no fe'er than thirty studies of error frequency 'ere conducted
6
/nfortunately, most
of these studies 'ere fla'ed in some 'ayC too small a data sam%le, too regional a data sam%le,
different definitions of errors, faulty methodologies ?2ara% ;;B@ Most early error research is
hard to understand today because the researchers used terms 'idely understood at the time but
no' incom%rehensible or at best strange .ome of the studies 'ere (ery seri ously conducted,
ho'e(er, and deser(e further discussion later in this %a%er
!fter the middle 34:Bs, error*frequency research 'aned as the %rogressi(e*education
mo(ement gained strength and the <e,%erience curriculum< in English re%laced older
correctness*based methods 8ur historical research indicates that the last large*scale research
into student %atterns of formal error 'as conducted in 34:5*:4 by John C 2odges, author of
the Harbrace Collee Handbook. 2odges collected 6B,BBB student %a%ers that had been
mar)ed by 3D different teachers, mainly from the /ni(ersity of $ennessee at Kno,(ille 2e
analyAed these %a%ers and created a ta,onomy of errors, using his findings to inform the :;*
%art organiAation of his Harbrace Handbook, a te,t 'hich quic)ly became and remains today
the most %o%ular college handboo) of 'riting
2o'e(er 2odges may ha(e constructed his study, his results fifty years later seem
%roblematic at best .mall*scale studies of changes in student 'riting o(er the %ast thirty years
ha(e sho'n that formal error %atterns ha(e shifted radically e(en since the 349Bs $he )inds
and quantities of formal errors re(ealed in Mina .haughnessy>s 'or) 'ith basic 'riters in the
34EBs 'ere ne' and shoc)ing to many teachers of 'riting We sensed that the time had come
for a study that 'ould attem%t to ans'er t'o questionsC ?3@ 'hat are the most common
%atterns of student 'riting errors being made in the 345Bs in the /nited .tatesF, and ?6@ 'hich
of these %atterns are mar)ed most consistently by !merican teachersF
Confirmatio !: $he Kettles Get Crac)ing
$he first tas) 'e faced 'as gathering data We needed teacher*mar)ed %a%ers from !merican
college freshmen and so%homores in a re%resentati(e range of different )inds of schools and a
re%resentati(e range of geogra%hic areas We did not 'ant to try to gather the isolated sam%le
of timed e,amination*style 'riting that is often studied, although such a sam%le 'ould
%robably ha(e been easier to obtain than the actual mar)ed %a%ers 'e sought We 'anted
<themes in the ra',< the actual commerce of 'riting courses all across !mer*
398 College Composition and Communication 39 (December 1988)
ica We 'anted %a%ers that had been %ersonally mar)ed or graded, filled 'ith e(ery
uncontrolled and uncontrollable sign of both student and teacher %ersonalities
Gathering these %a%ers %resented a number of obstacles #n terms of ideal
methodology, the data*gathering 'ould be untouched by self*selection among
teachers, and 'e could randomly choose our sources !fter 'orrying about this
%roblem, 'e finally could concei(e of no 'ay to gather u%'ards of 6B,BBB %a%ers
?the number of %a%ers 2odges had loo)ed at@ 'ithout a%%ealing to teachers 'ho
had mar)ed them We could thin) of no 'ay to go directly to students, and, though
some de%artments stoc)%ile student themes, 'e did not 'ish to 'eight our study
to'ard any one school or de%artment We had to as) com%osition teachers for hel%
!nd hel% us they did #n res%onse to a direct mail a%%eal to more than 3,9BB
teachers 'ho had used or e,%ressed interest in handboo)s, 'e had recei(ed by
.e%tember 3459 more than 63,9BB %a%ers from :BB teachers all across !merica
:
$o say that the (ariety in the %a%ers 'e 'ere sent 'as stri)ing is a serious
understatement $hey ranged in length from a %artial %age to o(er 6B %ages !bout
:BH 'ere ty%ed, the rest hand'ritten .ome 'ere annotated marginally until they
loo)ed li)e the -oo) of Kells, 'hile others merely s%orted a fe' scra'led 'ords
and a grade .ome 'ere %athologically neat, and others loo) dashed off on the &og
bet'een classes .ome 'ere formally %erfect, 'hile others a%%ro,imated Mina
.haughnessy>s more e,treme e,am%les of basic 'riting !ltogether, the 63,9BBI
%a%ers, each one carefully stam%ed by %a%er number and batch number, filled
a%%ro,imately :B feet of hastily*installed shel(ing #t 'as an im%osing mass
We had originally been enthusiastic ?and nai(e@ enough to belie(e that 'ith hel%
'e might someho' loo) o(er and analyAe 6B,BBB %a%ers Wrong E,amining an
a(erage %a%er e(en for mechanical la%ses, 'e soon realiAed, too) at the (ery least
ten busy minutes0 to e,amine all of them 'ould require o(er :,BBB Ma*and*Pa*
hours We sim%ly could not do it -ut 'e could analyAe a carefully stratified sam%le
of :,BBB randomly chosen %a%ers .uch an analysis 'ould gi(e us data that 'ere
(ery reliable Relie(ed that 'e 'ould not ha(e to try to loo) at 6B,BBB %a%ers, 'e
'ent to 'or) on the stratification
;
!fter stratifying our batches of %a%ers by region,
siAe of school, and ty%e of school, 'e used the table of random numbers and the
numbers that had been stam%ed on each %a%er as it came in to %ull :,BBB %a%ers
from our tonnage of %a%ers $hus 'e had our randomiAed, stratified sam%le, ready
for analysis
Confutatio: Ma and Pa Suck Eggs
-ut+analyAed using 'hatF From (ery early on in the research, 'e realiAed that
trying to introduce strict <scientific< definitions into an area so essentially
"re#uenc$ of "ormal Errors in Current Collee %ritin :44
(alues*dri(en as formal error mar)ing 'ould be a foolhardy mista)e We acce%ted
Joe Williams> contention that it is <necessary to shift our attention from error treated
strictly as an isolated item on a %age, to error %ercei(ed as a fla'ed (erbal
transaction bet'een a 'riter and a reader< ?39:@ Williams> thoughtful article on
<$he Phenomenology of Error< had, in fact, %ersuaded us that some sort of reader*
res%onse treatment of errors 'ould be far more useful than an attem%t to standardiAe
error %atterns in a %seudo*scientific fashion based on 2odges> or any other
handboo)
We 'ere made e(en more distrustful of any absolutist claims by our further
e,amination of %re(ious error*frequency research "oo)ing into the history of this
)ind of research sho'ed us clearly ho' teachers> ideas about error definition and
classification ha(e al'ays been absolute %roducts of their times and cultures What
seem to us the most common and %ermanent of terms and definitions are li)ely to be
ne'er and far more transient than 'e )no' Errors li)e <stringy sentences< and <use
of &ould fot sim%le %ast tense forms< seemed ob(ious and serious to teachers in
3469 or 343E but obscure to us today
9
While %henomena and ada%table definitions do continue from decade to decade,
'e )ne' that any system 'e might ado%t, ho'e(er defensible or linguistically sound
it might seem to us, 'ould someday re%resent one more historical curiosity <Comma
s%liceF< some researcher in the future 'ill murmur, <What a strange term for
Connors and "unsford to use Where could it ha(e come fromF<
D
$eachers ha(e
al'ays mar)ed different %henomena as errors, called them different things, gi(en
?hem different 'eights Error*%attern study is essentially the e,amination of an e(er*
shifting %attern of s)ills &udged by an e(er*shifting %attern of %re&udices We 'anted
to try loo)ing at this situation as it e,isted in the 345Bs, but clearly the instrument 'e
needed could not be algorithmic and 'ould not be historically stable
We settled, finally, on se(eral general understandings First, e,amining 'hat
teachers had mar)ed on these %a%ers 'as as im%ortant as trying to ascertain 'hat
'as <really there< in terms of formal error %atterns .econd, 'e could only analyAe
for a limited number of error %atterns+%erha%s t'enty in all !nd finally, 'e had no
ta,onomy of errors 'e felt 'e could trust We 'ould ha(e to generate our o'n, then,
using our o'n culture* and time*bound definitions and %erce%tions as best 'e could
Confirmatio II: Ma and Pa Hit the Road
Producing that ta,onomy meant loo)ing closely at the %a%ers /sing the random
number tables again, 'e %ulled :BB %a%ers from the remaining %iles Each of us too)
39B, and 'e set out inducti(ely to note e(ery formal error %attern 'e could disco(er
in the t'o %iles of %a%ers During this incredibly boring and nauseating %art of the
study, 'e tried to ignore any elements of %a%er content or organiAation e,ce%t as
they 'ere necessary to identify errors E(ery
400 College Composition and Communication 39 (December 1988)
error mar)ed by teachers 'as included in our listing, of course, but 'e found many
that had not been mar)ed at all, and some that 'ere not e(en easily definable What
follo's is the list of errors and the numbers of errors 'e disco(ered in that first
careful scrutiny of :BB %a%ersC
Error or Error Pattern J in :BB Pa%ers
.%elling
1o comma after introductory element Comma s%lice Wrong 'ord
"ac) of %ossessi(e a%ostro%he 7ague %ronoun reference 1o comma in
com%ound sentence Pronoun agreement .entence fragment
1o comma in non*restricti(e %hrase .ub&ect*(erb agreement
/nnecessary comma 'ith restricti(e %hrase /nnecessary 'ords=style re'rite
Wrong tense
Dangling or mis%laced modifier Run*on sentence
Wrong or missing %re%osition "ac) of comma in series #ts=it>s error $ense
shift
Pronoun shift=%oint of (ie' shift Wrong=missing inflected endings
Comma 'ith quotation mar)s error Missing 'ords Ca%italiAation
<Which=that< for <'ho='hom< /nidiomatic 'ord use Comma bet'een sub&ect
and (erb /nnecessary a%ostro%he after <s< /nnecessary comma in com%le,
sentence 2y%henation errors Comma before direct ob&ect /nidiomatic sentence
%attern $itle underlining Garbled sentence !d&ecti(al for ad(erbial form +<l
y#n addition, the follo'ing errors a%%eared fe'er than ; times in :BB %a%ersC
Wrong %ronoun
Wrong use of dashes
Confusion of a=an '
Missing articles ?the@
Missing question mar)
Wrong (erb form
450
138
124
102
99
90
87
83
82
75
59
50
49
46
42
39
38
35
34
31
31
31
28
27
24
21
17
14
11
11 9
6 6
6 4 4
"re#uenc$ of "ormal Errors in Current Collee %ritin ;B3
"ac) of transition
Missing=incorrect quotation mar)s
#ncorrect comma use 'ith %arentheses
/se of comma instead of <that< Missing
comma before <etc< #ncorrect
semicolon use Re%etition of 'ords
/nclear gerund modifier Double
negati(e
Missing a%ostro%he in contraction
Colon misuse "ac) of %arallelism
!s e,%ected, many old fa(orites a%%ear on these lists $o our sur%rise, ho'e(er, some
errors 'e 'ere used to thin)ing of as (ery common and serious %ro(ed to be at least not
so common as 'e had thought 8thers, 'hich 'ere not thought of as serious ?or e(en,
in some cases, as actual errors@, seemed (ery common
8ur ne,t ste% 'as to calibrate our readings, ma)ing certain 'e 'ere both counting
a%%les as a%%les, and to determine the cutoff %oint in this list, the errors 'e 'ould
actually count in the :,BBB %a%ers .ince s%elling errors %redominated by a factor of
:BBH ?'hich in itself 'as a sur%rising margin@, 'e chose not to deal further 'ith
s%elling in this analysis, but to de(elo% a se%arate line of research on s%elling -elo'
s%elling, 'e decided to go arbitrarily 'ith the to% t'enty error %atterns, cutting off
belo' <'rong inflected ending< $hese 'ere the t'enty error %atterns 'e 'ould train
our analysts to tote
u%*1o' 'e had a sam%le and 'e had an instrument, ho'e(er rough 1e,t 'e needed to
gather a grou% of re%resentati(e teachers 'ho could do the actual analysis Fifty
teaching assistants, instructors, and %rofessors from the 8hio .tate /ni(ersity English
De%artment (olunteered to hel% us 'ith the analysis $he usual question of inter*rater
reliability did not seem %ressing to us, because 'hat 'e 'ere loo)ing for seemed so
essentially charged 'ith social conditioning and %ersonal %redilection .ince 'e did not
thin) that 'e could al'ays <scientifically< determine 'hat 'as real error and 'hat 'as
style or usage (ariation, our best idea 'as to rationaliAe the arbitrariness inherent in the
%ro&ect by s%reading out the analytical decisions
8n a Friday afternoon, in January 345D 'e 'or)ed 'ith the fifty raters, going o(er the
definitions and e,am%les 'e had come u% 'ith for the <to% t'enty,< as 'e 'ere by
then calling them #t 'as a grueling Friday and .aturday We trained raters to recogniAe
error %atterns all Friday afternoon in the dusty, stuffy old English "ibrary at 8./+the
air of 'hich $hurber must ha(e breathed, and %robably the (ery same air, considering
ho' hard the 'indo's 'ere to o%en 8n returning to our 2otel that night, 'e found it
occu%ied by the 8hio cha%ter of the Pentecostal Kouth, 'ho had been gi(en %ermission
to run around the hotel giggling and shouting until :C:B am #n402 College
Composition and Communication 39 (December 1988)
des%air, 'e turned our $7 (olumes all the 'ay u% on 'hite*noise stations that
had gone off the air $hey sounded li)e the Reichenbach Falls and almost
dro'ned out the hoo*ra' in the hall'ay !fter :C:B it did indeed quiet do'n
some, and 'e fell into troublous slee% $he ne,t day the Pentecostal Kouth had
(anished, and Ma L Pa had research to do
(mpltficatio: Ma and Pa 2un)er Do'n
$he follo'ing day, rating began at 4CBB am and, 'ith a short lunch brea), 'e
had com%leted the last %a%er by 9CBB %m We %aused occasionally to calibrate
our ratings, to redefine some term, or to share some irresistible %iece of
student %rose ?$o% %riAe 'ent to the notorious <8ne 1ight,< one student>s
res%onse to an assignment as)ing for <analysis< $his essay>s abstract an*
nounced it as <an analysis of the realm of different feelings e,%erienced in one
night by a man and 'ife in lo(e<
E
@ $he rating sheets and %a%ers 'ere reor*
dered and bundled u%, and 'e all 'ent out for dinner
5
$he results of this e,ercise became real for us 'hen 'e totaled u% the num*
bers on all of the raters> sheets 2ere 'as the information 'e had been see)*
ing, 'hat all our efforts had been directed to'ard #t 'as e,citing to finally
see in blac) and 'hite 'hat 'e had been 'ondering about What 'e found
a%%ears in $able 3
Peroratio: $he Kettles .ay, <!', .huc)s<
$he results of this research by no means re%resent a final 'ord on any
question in(ol(ing formal errors or teacher mar)ing %atterns We can,
ho'e(er, dra' se(eral intriguing, if tentati(e, generaliAations
First, teachers> ideas about 'hat constitutes a serious, mar)able error (ary
'idely !s most of us may ha(e e,%ected, some teachers %ounce on e(ery
<(ery unique< as a %et %ee(e, some rail at <E(ery student their < $he
most %re(alent <error,< failure to %lace a comma after an introductory 'ord or
%hrase, 'as a bete noire for some teachers but 'as ignored by many more
Pa%ers mar)ed by the same teacher might at different times e(ince different
%atterns of formal mar)ing $eachers> reasons for mar)ing s%ecific errors and
%atterns of error in their students> %a%ers are com%le,, and in many cases they
are no doubt guided by the %ercei(ed needs of the student 'riting the %a%er
and by the stage of the com%osing %rocess the %a%er has achie(ed
.econd, teachers do not seem to mar) as many errors as
total mar)ed mar)ed
Error or Error Pattern %a%ers errors by teacher by teacher mar)ed by teacher tfl
3 1o comma after introductory element :,644 339H 449 :BH
6 7ague %ronoun reference 6,5B4 45H 546 :6H
: 1o comma in com%ound sentence 6,;;D 5DH E34 64H
; Wrong 'ord 6,63E E5H 3,33; 9BH
9 1o comma in non*restricti(e element 3,5D; D9H 95B :3H
D Wrong=missing inflected endings 3,DE4 94H 59E 93H
E Wrong or missing %re%osition 3,95B 99H DE4 ;:H
5 Comma s%lice 3,9D9 99H 59B 9;H
4 Possessi(e a%ostro%he error 3,;95 93H 4BD D6H
3 $ense shift 3,;9: 93H ;5; ::H
3 /nnecessary shift in %erson 3,:;E ;EH ;3B :BH
3 .entence fragment 3,63E ;6H DE3 99H
3 Wrong tense or (erb form 496 ::H ;D9 ;4H
3 .ub&ect*(erb agreement 4B4 :6H 9:; 95H
3 "ac) of comma in series E53 6EH 35; 6;H
3
D
Pronoun agreement error E96 6DH :D9 ;5H
3 /nnecessary comma 'ith restricti(e D4: 6;H 6:4 :;H
element
3 Run*on or fused sentence D53 6;H :B5 ;9H
3
4
Dangling or mis%laced modifier 9EE 6BH 3DE 64H
6
B
#ts=it>s error 646 3BH 355 D;H
404 College Composition and Communication 39 (December
1988)
mar)ed only once for e(ery four times they a%%ear $he
number of errors found com%ared to the number of errors
mar)ed suggests a fascinating %ossibility for future researchC
detailed obser(ation of teacher mar)ing, accom%anied by tal)*
aloud %rotocols .uch research seems to us a natural follo'*u%
to the findings %resented here
4
f$hird, the reasons teachers mar) any gi(en error seem to
result from a com*%ie,iformula that ta)es into account at least
t'o factorsC ho' serious or annoying the error is %ercei(ed to
be at a gi(en time for both teacher and student, and ho'
difficult it is to mar) or e,%lain*!s $able 3 sho's, the errors
mar)ed by the original teachers on our %a%ers %roduce a
different ?although not com%letely dissimilar@ ran)ing of
errors than the formal count 'e as)ed our raters to do .ome
of the lesser*mar)ed errors 'e studied are clearly felt to be
more stylistic than substanti(e Certain of fhe comma errors
seem sim%ly not to bother teachers (ery much 8thers, li)e
'rong 'ords or missing inflections, are much more frequently
mar)ed, and might be said to ha(e a high <res%onse quotient<
for teachers #n addition, 'e sensed that in many cases errors
'ent unmar)ed not because the teacher failed to see them, but
because they 'ere not germane to the lessons at hand !
teacher 'or)ing (ery hard to hel% a student master sub&ect*
(erb agreement 'ith third*%erson singular nouns, for instance,
might 'ell ignore most other errors in a gi(en %a%er
$eachers> %erce%tions of the seriousness of a gi(en error
%attern seem, ho'e(er, to be only %art of the reason for
mar)ing an error $he sheer difficulty of e,%lanation %resented
by some error %atterns is another factor Jotting <WW in the
margin to ti% a student off to a diction %roblem is one thing0
e,%laining a subtle shift in %oint of (ie' in that same marginal
s%ace is quite another .entence fragments, comma s%lices,
and 'rong tenses, to name three classic <serious< errors, are
all mar)ed less often than %ossessi(e a%ostro%hes $his is, 'e
thin), not due to teachers> %erce%tion that a%ostro%he errors
are 'orse than sentence*boundary or tense %roblems, but to
their quic)ness and ease of indication $he its=it>s error and the
%ossessi(e a%ostro%he, the t'o highest*mar)ed %atterns, are
also t'o of the easiest errors to mar) $his is, of course, not
laAiness0 many com%osition teachers are so chronically
o(er'or)ed that 'e should not 'onder that the errors most
mar)ed are those most quic)ly indicated
Fourth, error %atterns in .tudent 'riting are shifting in
certain 'ays, at least %artially as a result of changing media
trends 'ithin the culture Conclusions must be es%ecially
tentati(e here, because the time*bound nature of studies of
error ma)es com%arisons difficult and definitions of errors
counted in earlier research are hard to correlate 8ur research
turned u% se(eral earlier lists of serious errors in freshman
com%osition, ho'e(er, 'hose order is rather different from
the order 'e disco(ered
Roy #(an Johnson, 'riting in 343E, re%orted on 345 %a%ers
'ritten by DD freshmen, and his list of the to% ten error
%atterns in his study is as follo's ?'here(er %ossible, 'e ha(e
translated his terms into ours@C
Frequency of Formal Errors in Current College Writing 405
3 .%elling
6 Ca%italiAation
: Punctuation ?mostly comma errors@
; Careless omission or re%etition
9 !%ostro%he errors
D Pronoun agreement
E 7erb tense errors and agreement
5 /ngrammatical sentence structure ?fragments and run*ons@
4 Mista)es in the use of ad&ecti(es and ad(erbs
3B Mista)es in the use of %re%ositions and con&unctions
#n 34:B, Paul Witty and Roberta Green analyAed 3EB %a%ers
'ritten in a timed situation by freshmen 2ere is their to% ten list,
translated into our terms 'here %ossibleC
3 Faulty connecti(es '
). 7ague %ronoun reference
: /se of <'ould< for sim%le %ast tense forms
; Confusion of forms from similarity of sound or meaning
9 Mis%laced modifiers
D Pronoun agreement
E Fragments
5 /nclassified errors
4 Dangling modifiers
3B Wrong tense
!s 'e mentioned earlier, the largest*scale analysis of errors 'as
done by John C 2odges in the late 34:Bs /nfortunately, 'e )no'
(ery little about 2odges> research 2e ne(er %ublished any results in
contem%orary &ournals, and thus it is difficult to )no' his methods or
e(en (ery much about his findings, because 'e can see them only as
they are reflected in the Harbrace Handbook, 'hich today still uses
the e,act arrangement that 2odges ga(e it in its first edition in 34;3
#n the <$o the #nstructor< %reface of his first edition, 2odges says that
his 6B,BBB themes <ha(e been tabulated according to the corrections
mar)ed by si,teen instructors,< 'hich suggests that his raters loo)ed
only for teacher*mar)ed errors ?2odges iii@ #n a footnote on the
same %age, 2odges gi(es the only (ersion of his to%*ten list e(er
%ublishedC
3 Comma
6 .%elling
: E,actness
; !greement
9 .u%erfluous commas
D Reference of %ronouns
E !%ostro%he
5 8mission of 'ords
4
Wordi
ness
3B
Good
use
$hat is all 'e )no' of 2odges> findings, but it does not seem
unreasonable to assume that he re%orts them in order of frequency
406 College Composition and Communication 39 (December 1988)
#n terms of ho' %atterns of error ha(e changed, our findings are, of course, e,tremely tentati(e
!ssuming that 2odges> Harbrace list constitutes some (ersion of the error %atterns he found in 34:4,
ho'e(er, 'e note some distinct changes #n general, our list sho's a %roliferation of error %atterns that
seem to suggest declining familiarity 'ith the (isual loo) of a 'ritten %age Most stri)ingly, s%elling
errors ha(e gone from second on the list to first by a factor of three .%elling is the most ob(ious
e,am%le of this lac) of (isual memory of %rinted %ages seen, but the gro'th of other error %atterns
su%%orts it as 'ell
3B
.ome of the error %atterns that seem to suggest this (isual*memory %roblem 'ere not found or listed
in earlier studies but ha(e come to light in ours $he many 'rong 'ord errors, the missing inflected
endings, the 'rong %re%ositions, e(en the its=it>s errors+all suggest that students today may be less
familiar 'ith the (isible as%ects of 'ritten forms $hese findings confirm the contrasti(e analysis
bet'een 6,BBB %a%ers from the 349Bs and 6,BBB %a%ers from the 34EBs that 'as carried out by Gary
.#oan in 34E4 .loan determined that many elements of formal 'riting con(ention bro)e do'n se(erely
bet'een the fifties and se(enties, including s%elling, homo%hones, sentence structure elements, inflected
endings, and others ?39E*94@ .loan notes that the effects of an oral+and 'e 'ould stress, an electronic
*culture on literacy s)ills are sub(ersi(e .tudents 'ho do not read the <te,ts< of our culture 'ill
continue to come to school 'ithout the tacit (isual )no'ledge of 'ritten con(entions that <te,t*'ise<
'riters carry 'ith them effortlessly .uch changes in literate beha(ior ha(e and 'ill continue to affect us
in multi%le 'ays, including the 'ays 'e %ercei(e, categoriAe, and &udge <errors<
Finally, 'e feel 'e can re%ort some good ne's 8ne (ery telling fact emerging from our research is
our realiAation that college students are not ma)ing more formal errors in 'riting than they used to $he
numbers of errors made by students in earlier .tudies and the numbers 'e found in the 345Bs agree
remar)ably 8ur findings chart out as follo'sC>
l
(+erae Paper Errors per Errors per Stud$
,ear -enth Paper .// &ords Johnson 343E 3D6 'ords :;6 633
Witty L Green 34:B 6:3 'ords 935 66; Ma L Pa 345D ;66 'ords
496 66D
$he consistency of these numbers seems to us e,traordinary #t suggests that although the length of the
a(erage %a%er demanded in freshman com%osition has been steadily rising, the formal s)ills of students
ha(e not declined %reci%itously
#n the light of the <Johnny Can>t Write< furor of the 34EBs and the sometimes hysterical claims of
educational decline oft heard today, these results are stri)ing+and heartening $hey suggest that in some
'ays 'e are doing a better &ob than 'e might ha(e )no'n $he number of errors has not gone do'n,
Frequency of Formal Errors in Current College Writing
407
but neither has it risen in the %ast fi(e decades #n s%ite of
o%en admissions, in s%ite of radical shifts in the demogra%hics
of college students, in s%ite of the huge escalation in the
%o%ulation %ercentage as 'ell asJn sheer numbers of %eo%le
attending !merican colleges, freshmen are still committing
a%%ro,imately the same number of formal errors %er 3BB
'ords they 'ere before World War One. #n this case, not
losing means that 'e are 'inning
Epilogos
8ur foray into the high'ays of research and the by'ays of the
Pentecostal Kouth are o(er for a time, and 'e are bac) on the
farm From our (antage %oint here on the %orch, 'e can see
that this labor has raised more questions than it has ans'ered
Where, for instance, do our s%ecific notions of error come
fromF Can 'e identify more %recisely the relationshi% among
error %atterns in 'ritten student discourse and other forms of
discourse, es%ecially the mass mediaF Could 'e identify
regional or other (ariations in error %atternsF 2o' might
certain error %atterns correlate 'ith other %atterns+say age,
gender, habits of reading, etcF 2o' might they correlate 'ith
measures of 'riting a%%rehension, or the <ethos,< the ideology
of a s%ecific curriculumF Most %ro(ocati(ely, could 'e deri(e
a contem%orary theory of error 'hich 'ould account for the
'ritten beha(iors of all our students as 'ell as the mar)ing be*
ha(ior of teachersF $hese are a fe' of the %roblems 'e>d li)e
to fret o(er if and 'hen 'e decide to ta)e to the research road
again
1otes
3 !s an e,am%le of shifting %erce%tions of student error %atterns, it is
'orth noting that Charles $ Co%eland and 2enry M Rideout, 'riting in
34B3, identified the most serious and common grammatical error in 2ar(ard
freshman %a%ers as a confusion of the rules for use of <shall< and <'ill< to
e,%ress futurity ?E #n@
6 For a list of most of these studies, see 2ara% ;;;*;D
: We 'ish here to e,%ress our gratitude to the College Di(ision of .t
Martin>s Press, 'hich graciously offered res%ondents a choice from the .t
Martin>s trade boo) list in e,change for :B or more teacher*mar)ed student
%a%ers or ,ero,es of student %a%ers We are es%ecially grateful to 1ancy
Perry, Marilyn Moller, and .usan Manning, 'ithout 'hose hel% this research
could ne(er ha(e been accom%lished From assistance 'ith mailings to the
considerable tas)s of %a%er stac)ing, stam%ing, sorting, and filing, they made
the tas) %ossible $heir su%%ort, both institutional and %ersonal, is dee%ly
a%%reciated
$he demogra%hics of the %a%ers 'e 'ere sent 'ere interesting, as 'e
found 'hen e,amining them for our stratified sam%le !fter %ulling all the
%a%ers that 'ere illegible, or 'ere not undergraduate %a%ers, 'ere too short to
be useful, or 'ere clearly %a%ers from E." courses, 'e 'ere left 'ith 34,D39
%a%ers We di(ided u% the /. into se(en fairly standard geogra%hical
regionsC
?3@ 1ortheast
?6@ .outheast
?:@ Mid'est
?;@ Mid*.outh
408 College Composition and Communication 39 (December 1988)
?9@ Plains .tates
?D@ .outh'est ?including 2a'aii@
?E@ 1orth'est ?including !las)a@
2ere are the ra' numbers of ho' the %a%ers 'ere distributed as they came in
to usC
Region 36:;9DE $otal $otal number of %a%ers :,D96
:,;E5 :,B44 ;,4E; 3,664 6,646 543 34,D39 $otal number of D3
93 9; 99 35 ;E 3; :BB
teachers $otal number of ;E :9 ;B :4 3; 6; E
6BD
;*year schools $otal number of 3; 3D 3; 3D ; 6:
E 4;
6*year schools $otal number of ;; ;4 ;5 ;5 35 ;;
3: 6D;
state schools $otal number of 3E 6 D E B : 3
:D
%ri(ate schools
1umber of schools 66B3333 5 'ith total enroll ment under
3,BBB
Enrollment 3*:,BBB 4 3: E 33 : 9; 96
Enrollment :*9,BBB 3: 9 9 3; 6 E 6 ;5
Enrollment 9*3B,BBB 34 4 3D 3B D E; E3
Enrollment 3B*6B,BBB 3; 4 3: 3: 3 39 6 DE
Enrollment ; 3: 3: D 9 36 3 9;
o(er 6B,BBB
; We 'anted to find out 'hether the sam%le of %a%ers 'e had recei(ed
mirrored the demogra%hic realities of !merican higher education #f it did not,
'e 'ould ha(e to ad&ust it to re%resent the student and teacher %o%ulations
that 'ere really out there
When 'e loo)ed at 0he 1iest of Education Statistics, 'e found that some
of our numbers a%%ro,imated educational statistics closely enough not to need
ad&ustment $he brea)do'n bet'een ;*year colleges and 6*year colleges, for
instance, is E3H=64H in the statistical tables and D4H=:3H in our sam%le $he
state schools=%ri(ate schools ratio is statistically E4H=63H, 'hile our sam%le
ratio 'as 55H=36H, but the o(er*re%resentation of state schools did not seem
serious enough to 'orry about for our %ur%oses #n terms of enrollment, 'e
found middle*siAed schools slightly o(er*re%resented and (ery small and (ery
large schools slightly under*re%resented, but in no case 'as the de(iation
more than EH either 'ayC
We found the most serious discre%ancies in the regional stratification, 'ith
some regions o(er*and others under*re%resented
Region 36:;9 DE H of students
nationally 6: 36 6: 39 ; 34 ; H of students in
sam%le 34 35 39 69 D 36 9
8n the basis of the regional discre%ancy 'e found, 'e decided to stratify the
sam%le %a%ers regionally but not in any other 'ay
For hel% 'ith the methodological %roblems 'e faced, and for ad(ice on
establishing a ran*
1umber of schools 'ith total
enrollment under 3,BBB
Enrollment 3*:,BBB Enrollment
:*9,BBB Enrollment 9*3B,BBB
Enrollment 3B*6B,BBB Enrollment
o(er 6B,BBB
H of students H in
nationally sam%le
; 6
33
3:
63
69
69
3E
3D
6;
66
35
Frequency of Formal Errors in Current College Writing 409
dom stratified sam%le of :,BBB %a%ers, many than)s to Charles Coo%er When
the going gets tough, the cough go as) Charles for ad(ice
9 $hese t'o e,am%les of old*time error %atterns are cited in Pressey and
in Johnson
D $he term <comma fault< 'as by far the most %o%ular term to describe
this error %attern until the ubiquitous Harbract seeded the clouds 'ith its
terms in 34;3, ad(ancing <comma s%lice,< %re(iously a term of tertiary
choice, into a %rimary %osition by #4DB .ee "unsford, Glenn, and Connors,
<Changing Pedagogical 1omenclature,< forthcoming 'hen 'e can all sto%
%anting
E $his %a%er, fi(e lo(ingly*'ritten %ages of classic 7ictorian
%ornogra%hy, 'as e,tremely %o%ular 'ith the raters E,am%le %assageC
<$ammy>s o'n arousal came 'ith suddenness -ill>s urgent caresses )indled a
delicious 'armth in her flesh and then a melting trembling heat< We 'ould
quote more, but 'e>re %rudes, and this is a family magaAine For an original
,ero, co%y of this e,tremely interesting %iece of %edagogical history, send
M69BB and a %lain bro'n self*addressed en(elo%e to the Ma and Pa Kettle Go
$o Wai)i)i Fund, c=o this magaAine
$he teacher>s comment on this %a%er, incidently, 'as curt <$his is
narration,< 'rote the teacher, <.orry you didn>t use analysis to e,%lain
Remember the definition of e,%lanatory %roseF< !nother )ic) in the teeth for
!rt
5 #n addition to the error*rating sheets, on 'hich the raters )e%t trac) of
errors found and errors mar)ed, 'e as)ed them to 'rite do'n on a se%arate
list e(ery miss%elled 'ord in e(ery %a%er they sa' $his s%elling research is
only %artially tabulated and 'ill be %resented in another study
4 We 'ere also intrigued to find that of the :,BBB %a%ers e,amined, only
6ED had been mar)ed using the letter*number system of any handboo)
2andboo)s may be 'idely used, but fe'er than 3BH of out %a%ers relied on
their systems $he rest had been mar)ed using the common symbols and
interlinear notes
3B With our s%elling research %artially tabulated at this %oint, 'e are
struc) by the %re(alence of homo%hone errors in the list of the most
commonly miss%elled 'ords $he gro'th of too2to and theirltherd the$'re
error %atterns strongly suggests the sort of %roblem 'ith (isual familiarity
suggested by our list of non*s%elling errors
33 $hese com%arisons are not absolutely e,act, of course Johnson
counted s%elling errors, 'hile Witty and Green and 'e did not $he numbers
in the chart for Johnson>s research 'ere deri(ed by subtracting all s%elling
errors from his final error total
Wor)s Cited
Co%eland, Charles $, and 2enry M Rideout "reshman Enlish and 0heme3
Correctin at Har+ard
Collee. -ostonC .il(er, -urden, 34B3
Elbo', Peter /n%ublished document English Coalition Conference July
345E 2ara%, 2enry <$he Most Common Grammatical Errors< Enlish
4ournal 34 ?June 34:B@0
440-46.
2odges, John C Harbrace Handbook of Enlish. 1e' Kor)C 2arcourt, -race
L Co, 34;3 Johnson, Roy #(an <$he Persistency of Error in English
Com%osition< School 5e+ie& 69 ?8ct
343E@0 999*5B Pressey, . " <! .tatistical .tudy of Children>s Errors in
.entence*.tructures< Enlish 4ournal
3; ?.e%t 3469@C 965*:9
.haughnessy, Mina P Errors and Expectations. 1e' Kor)C 8,ford /P, 34EE
.loan, Gary <$he .ub(ersi(e Effects of an 8ral Culture on .tudent Writing<
Collee Composition and Communication :B ?May 34E4@C 39D*DB
Snyder, Thomas D. Digest a/Education Statistics 1987. Washington:
Center for Ed!ation Statisti!s, "9#7.
Wi$$iams, %ose&h. 'The (henomeno$ogy of Error.' College
Composition and Communication 3) *+ay "9#",: "-)-6#.
Witty, Paul !, and Roberta "a -rant Green <Com%osition Errors of College
.tudents< Enlish 4ournal 34 ?May 34:B@C :55*4: