In the article “Habituated Practice Can Lead to Entrenchment,” Chris M. Anson discusses that when writers constantly write within the same format, and to the same audience, this can cause issues when they have to produce other types of writing. When it comes to new writers especially, it can be difficult to adapt to another rhetorical situation and not resort to old patterns. That is why it’s especially important for writers to be taught how to be flexible, and consider the writing characteristics necessary for each piece of writing. Without this basic skill, many writers fail to deliver their messages to the intended audience in an appropriate manner.
Writing alone is not a skill worth practicing and enhancing, without the ability to know in what context it is useful. Otherwise writing becomes useless when the main purpose of it is not being understood by the considered audience. Writing style constantly needs to be modified given the situation, genre, and audience in order to determine the medium or word choice used. We tend to adjust the way we speak given who we’re talking to, well it’s basically the same concept in writing because writing is also a form of communication. A common example is the way you would text a friend, but most likely email a teacher. Or the way you would use more basic word choice and informal tone when writing for children, but advance the word choice and use formal tone when writing to your boss.
I completely understand the point that Chris Manson has made, because I myself have experienced trying to remove myself from writing habits. As a highschool student, me and many other highschool students have struggled when writing in a college level class where the expectations of writing differ immensely from highschool standards. After having to write in the same format all throughout high school and actually a bit in middle school, I feel that it has become automatic for me to write an introduction, a few body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. When I entered AP Lit, I struggled initially because the format I was so used to was not appropriate for that class. As Chris Anson puts it, “Placed in a new situation where the audience, purpose, genre and other aspects of writing may be very different from those required in five-paragraph themes, such writers may resort to their habituated practice and fail to meet the expectations of their new rhetorical community” (Anson 77). This is why it’s essential that students be taught how to write according to different situations when they’re young, so they do not have to struggle when they get older.
