Title: To Teach or Not to Teach the Five-Paragraph Essay?
Author(s): Jimalee Sowell, PhD Candidate, Composition and Applied Linguistics, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA
Publication InformationTitle: To Teach or Not to Teach the Five-Paragraph Essay?
Author(s): Jimalee Sowell, PhD Candidate, Composition and Applied Linguistics, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA
Journal Title: Palimpsest - East Delta University Journal of English Studies
Volume No: 02, Issue No: 01, Year: 2020, Pages: 22-31
Publisher: Department of English, East Delta University, Chattogram, Bangladesh
Type of Publication: Research Article
Received: 08 September 2020, Accepted: 31 December 2020, Published: 07 December 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46603/pedujes.v2i1.3
Abstract
While the field of composition might like to believe it has moved on from concern about the five-paragraph essay, the debate is far from over. The five-paragraph essay continues to be taught, and oppositionists continue to rail against it. As long as the five-paragraph essay continues as a common form of writing assessment on standardized exams and as a form commonly taught in schools, it is a form that will likely persist. Instead of calling for the retirement of the five-paragraph essay, practitioners and researchers need to rethink the potential of the five-paragraph essay as a foundational form and to reconsider approaches to teaching it. Some of the problems associated with the five-paragraph essay are likely due to pedagogical decisions, such as an exclusive focus on the five-paragraph essay and not advancing to other forms when students are ready rather the five-paragraph essay form itself. In this paper, I define the five-paragraph essay, outline some of the historical links to the five-paragraph essay, challenge common criticisms of it, and suggest that such essay might be a useful foundational form.
While the field of composition might like to believe it has moved on from concern about the five-paragraph essay, the debate is far from over. The five-paragraph essay continues to be taught, and oppositionists continue to rail against it. As long as the five-paragraph essay continues as a common form of writing assessment on standardized exams and as a form commonly taught in schools, it is a form that will likely persist. Instead of calling for the retirement of the five-paragraph essay, practitioners and researchers need to rethink the potential of the five-paragraph essay as a foundational form and to reconsider approaches to teaching it. Some of the problems associated with the five-paragraph essay are likely due to pedagogical decisions, such as an exclusive focus on the five-paragraph essay and not advancing to other forms when students are ready rather the five-paragraph essay form itself. In this paper, I define the five-paragraph essay, outline some of the historical links to the five-paragraph essay, challenge common criticisms of it, and suggest that such essay might be a useful foundational form.
Keywords
five-paragraph essay, five-paragraph theme, composition, writing instruction, foundational form, first-year composition
five-paragraph essay, five-paragraph theme, composition, writing instruction, foundational form, first-year composition
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Georgia State University.Dean, D. M. (2000). Mudding boundaries: Mixing genres with five paragraphs. English Journal, 90(1), 53 – 56.Devitt, A. J. (2008). Writing genres. Southern Illinois University Press.Early, J. S. & DeCosta, M. (2012). Real world writing for secondary students. Teachers College Press.Eyman D. (2015). Digital rhetoric: Theory, method, practice. University of Michigan Press. DOI: 10.3998/dh.13030181.0001.001Ferris, D. & Hedgcock, J. (2014). Teaching L2 composition: Purpose, process, and practice. Routledge.Haluska, J. (2007). In defense of the formula essay. Academic Questions, 20(1), 46-55. DOI:10.1007/BF03033399Haluska, J. (2012). The formula essay reconsidered. Educational Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 78(4), 25 – 30.Knutson, R. L. (1980). A formula for generating a literary thesis. English Journal, 69(9), 51-53. DOI: 10.2307/816381Leki, I. (2007). Undergraduates in a second language: Challenges and complexities of academic literacy development. Erlbaum and Associates.Miller, J. (2010). Persistence of the five-paragraph essay. English Journal, 99(3), 99 – 100. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40503494Novick, T. A. (2001). Praise for the five paragraph essay. English Journal, 90(3), 12. DOI: 10.2307/821293Ong, W. (1958). Ramus, method, and the decay of dialogue: From the art of discourse to the art of reason. Harvard University Press.Perrin, R. (2007). 10:00 and 2:00: A ten-paragraph defense of the five-paragraph theme. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 27(3), 312 – 314.Pudlowski, V. (1959). Compositions—Write ’em right! English Journal, 48(9), 535 – 7.Ruecker, T. (2014). Here they do this, over there they do they do that: Latinas/os writing across institutions. College Composition and Communication, 66(1), 91 – 119.Samraj, B. 2004. (2004.) Discourse features of the student-produced academic research paper: Variations across disciplinary courses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 3, 5 – 22. DOI: 10.1016/S1475-1585(03)00053-5Sanborn, J. D. (1994). “The essay dies in the academy, circa 1900.” In P. A. Sullivan, & D. J. Qually (Eds.), Pedagogy in the Age of Politics: Writing and Reading in the Academy (pp. 121 – 138). National Council of Teachers.Seloni, L. (2019). Enacting reflexivity in second language writing research: A personal account cultural production of authorial self. In M. Grenfell & K. Pahl (Eds.), Bourdieu, Language-based Ethnographies and Reflexivity (pp. 107 – 130). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315205151Seo, B. I. (2007). Defending the five-paragraph essay. English Journal, 97(2), 15-16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30046782Smith, K. (2006). In defense of the five-paragraph essay. English Journal, 95(4), 16 – 17. doi:10.2307/30047081Smyth, R. (1994). Renaissance mnemonics, poststructuralism, and the rhetoric of hypertext composition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Florida.Sommers, N. & Saltz, L. (2004). The novice as expert: Writing the freshman year. College Composition and Communication, 56(1), 124 – 49. DOI:10.2307/4140684Tardy, C. (2019). Is the five-paragraph essay a genre? In Caplan, N. & Johns, A. M. (Eds.) Changing practices for the L2 writing classroom: Moving beyond the five-paragraph essay. University of Michigan. DOI: 10.3998/mpub.10000663Tremmel, M. (2011). What to make of the five-paragraph theme: history of the genre and implications. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 39(1), 29 – 42.Warner, J. (2018). Why they can’t write: Killing the five-paragraph essay and other necessities. John Hopkins University Press.Warriner, J. E. (1977). English grammar and composition. Harcourt Brace Jovanavich.Warriner, J. E. (1982). English grammar and composition. Harcourt Brace Jovanavich.Warriner, J. E. (1986). English grammar and composition. Harcourt Brace Jovanavich.Warriner, J. E. (1988). English grammar and composition. Harcourt Brace Jovanavich.Warriner, J. E., & Griffith, F. J. (1963). English grammar and composition, Harcourt Brace and World. Wesley, K. (2000). The Ill effects of the five paragraph theme. English Journal, 90(1), 57 – 60. doi:10.2307/821732Widdowson, H. (2003). Defining issues in English language teaching. Oxford University Press.Wiggins, G. (2009). EJ in Focus: Real-world writing: Making purpose and audience matter. The English Journal, 98(5), 29 – 37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40503292Wiley, M. (2000). The popularity of formulaic writing and why we need to resist. English Journal, 90(1), 61 – 67. doi:10.2307/821733Wiseman, N. (2003). Writing assessment. English Journal, 93(2), 9. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23131606
To teach or not to teach the five-paragraph essay_pedujes.v2i1.3.pdf