How to Enhance Learning by Using High-Stakes and Low-Stakes Writing, by Peter Elbow and Mary Deane Sorcinelli In McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 12th edition. Houghton Mifflin 2005. 192-212
A LITTLE THEORY: HIGH STAKES AND LOW STAKES
Because writing is usually learned in school (where it is virtually always graded or evaluated), and because writing tends to be used for more serious occasions than speaking (“Are you prepared to put that in writing?”), most people feel writing as an inherently high stakes activity. But writing is not inherently a high stakes activity. Indeed writing is better than speaking for low stakes language use--for exploration and experimentation. ...
icons on the left to see existing comments.