Agenda Item: “Leading theorists tell us that the poor thinking we see in many of our students stems from their not yet having made that great developmental leap from oral language strategies to written or literate language strategies,” - Elbow, pg 136.
This is definitely something worth giving a second thought. I just wonder in what regard he means that students have a poor level of thinking. Is it that they can’t write very well because they think only in the oral context? Is there writing too informal and speech-like because they have this oral mind set? Or does it have to do with them drawing conclusions in all contexts which would include both oral and written expressions? I am curious to know specifically the evidence that the theorists have to back up this conclusion.