Hi,
Good debate this: yes, I would agree that documents should be clear and
that, for example, any handouts for students should be as clearly
written as possible without losing the content. Handouts for students
should surely be clear (but not patronising either.) It is also true, as
has been pointed out, by Felicity and others, that there is an academic
writing style and that sometimes (not always) this is the most effective
way of communicating the message to an academic audience.
It would be an Orwellian situation where we demanded that all works of
literature, for example, were written in plain English.
We can communicate messages using plain English but, in some
circumstances, this may not be the same as conveying the exact same
message as the original text. Moreover, if one of our learning outcomes
is to enable students to critically read original sources, where does
transcription into plain English leave us?
ATB
Claire
Claire Wickham
Senior Disability Officer
Disability Resource Centre
University of the West of England
Frenchay Campus
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol BS16 1QY
Tel: 0117 328 3737
Textphone: 0117 32 83644
Fax: 0117 32 82935
Please note that this e-mail was written using speech input and may
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-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Conway
Sent: 20 July 2007 10:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Converting text to BSL
This will run and run - and there is truth in what you say. There
again, do we really want to perpetuate incomprehensible writing?
Education is about effective communication, surely?
However there are those who place a high value on literary style as an
art form in its own right, and that cannot be debased any more that
great paintings can be converted to text.
I seek to understand how to communicate best with those who cannot hear.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Felicity Burgess
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 10:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Converting text to BSL
Surely there are knock-on effects? For undergrad. research
projects/lit.
reviews, there is a certain style of language that is needed if students
are going to try and get themselves published. I think I would have
struggled more to learn that style if I had had texts written into plain
English (although I would have had to listen to journal articles fewer
times to get the relevant points).
This puts it into a humorous context, but also applies in a serious
context:
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=405
Quoting Gerard Conroy <[log in to unmask]>:
> This issue is a thorny one.
>
> If it is the "greats" of literature we are talking about then they
will
> be
> debased by writing them in simple English - the Readers Digest version
if
> you will.
>
> However I am firmly convinced that many academic documents are written
to
> impress the reader how cultured and clever the author is, rather than
get
> a
> point across. Bearing that in mind I must agree with John that many
texts
> should be rewritten with the ultimate aim of getting a message across.
>
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