Ritwik Deshpande - Week #12 - The Power of Written Versus Spoken Language
In most of our English classes in both high school and middle school, there has always been a pretty clear emphasis on written language as opposed to verbal language. If we look at the AP Exam for this class, it requires us to write three essays and complete MCQs that assess our reading comprehension and rhetorical skills. However, none of the AP exam tests our verbal communication skills, and instead assesses our English ability solely on the basis of reading comprehension and writing.
This raises the question, however, regarding whether this is the right move for English classes around the country. Although most English classes involve some group work or presentations that involve spoken language skills, it is never assessed in a standardized way similar to the AP Exams or the SAT.
I got the idea to write this blog post from my friend who’s currently a senior at AHS, Stavya Gaonkar (12). He asked me about what I thought regarding the annotations and other written work we do for AP English and if it was consistent with the amount of verbal work we do. Stavya was of the opinion that more verbal and spoken work would be beneficial due to the immense amount of emphasis on writing in a timed setting on the AP exam. In fact, writing annotations and other work for AP English caused him to ultimately fracture his wrist, which took several months of strength recovery (joke).
In all seriousness, many former students of AP English can attest to how it helped build up their writing, reading, and general critical thinking ability. Still, when asked if they thought that more presentational and verbal assignments as opposed to a heavy amount of written work would be beneficial, an overwhelming majority of the three people I talked to said yes.
Personally, I’m not sure where I stand on the spectrum of wanting more verbal assignments versus written assignments, but I definitely see both sides of the argument. At the end of the day, the English 11AP exam assesses your writing ability above all else, so it makes sense why writing is the cornerstone of our AP English class. On the other hand, if former AP English students believe so strongly that verbal skills should be tested more, there must be some validity to this side of the argument.
Hi Ritwik,
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of AP English and language, I found your title very captivating for me to read. I like how you introduce the inspiration for your blog as you captivated my attention and brought the focus on the topic to the main point which is the power of written vs. spoken language. In addition, I like how you use humor to also make your blog better and enhance the quality of your writing. It definitely put a smile on my face when I was reading your blog. I also like how you have a questioning blog that really analyzes your title and prompt in order to keep the reader’s interest. We are constantly left searching for your answer, yet you provide reason for both sides of the arguments and provide good reason and justification for both. I also enjoyed the AP English exam reference that really made me remember the upcoming AP exams (sarcasm).
-Krish
Hey Ritwik, I completely agree with your point of view. Spoken language is as critical as writing itself. In that way, I am happy that we are able to showcase this skill in our upcoming POAS presentations (I am excited to hear everyone's presentations). I feel like spoken language offers far greater freedom because you aren't constrained by writing and there is just so much more you can do relating to body language, tone, etc that simply is not possible in writing due to its nature. I also agree with the emphasis on writing but I think adding a spoken portion would make the test process itself a lot more difficult. I take AP Spanish and there is a required speaking part integrated within the test. This portion is notorious for having lots of technical difficulties; I am sure college board tries to avoid speaking portions as much as possible as it surely requires more effort from their side. Adding the perspective of a student who has already taken AP English and Language previously was also a great idea (along with the joke). Overall you had a great blog post. Nice job.
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