Post #2867097

2026-02-21 02:02 UTC

@zoy@merveilles.town @da5nsy@social.coop I teach academic writing to uni students. One of the things I talk about is the level needed for different types of work. I point out that their exercises for me will only be read by an audience of one (me). BUT I'm training them to write well for a much larger audience. When you want/hope hundreds or more will read your work, then not editing it properly is pushing the work of figuring it out onto all those readers, rather than the one writer. Aimed at one reader, rough is fine.

Replies (4)

@zoy@merveilles.town 2026-02-21 02:30

@a_cubed@mastodon.social @da5nsy@social.coop Certainly, learning to write clearly and effectively is incredibly valuable and worthwhile. At the same time, learning to read unclear, opaque texts is another valuable part of education. Imagine if this was extended to reading across differences of culture, disability, class, etc.

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@leeloo@chaosfem.tw 2026-02-21 11:23

@a_cubed@mastodon.social @zoy@merveilles.town @da5nsy@social.coop I think you are over-simplifying. A university paper aimed at a few hundred people needs to look way more professional than a twitter post read by thousands.

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@eldritch48@mastodon.social 2026-02-21 18:11

@a_cubed@mastodon.social @zoy@merveilles.town @da5nsy@social.coop depends on the culture too. In the West, it is the responsibility of the speaker. In Japan, comprehension is much more the responsibility of the listener. We should not assume our way is universal or correct simply because it is how we were raised.

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@fox@wanderingwires.net 2026-02-21 20:53

@a_cubed@mastodon.social @zoy@merveilles.town @da5nsy@social.coop I would encourage you to consider how chatgpt determines the register/style to correct your writing to fit into. how well does it actually do that? and also, if you use chatgpt to do it, you never learn the skill of writing for specific audiences yourself. and finally, who decides what standard we are trying to assimilate to? I think its important to unpack the prescriptivist mindset as well, e.g. think about this in terms of code switching rather than correctness.

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