[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-597619-105":59,"doc-detail-597619-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","empowering-nonsense-reading-lewis-carrolls-jabberwocky-in-a-basic-writing-class","Empowering Nonsense: Reading Lewis Carroll’s \"Jabberwocky\" in a Basic Writing Class","","The article addresses how first-year basic writing and reading students fear “BIG words” and the perceived vagueness and incompetence of college texts. It argues that reading model texts teaches students structure, style, tone, vocabulary, and grammar, while instruction must also build strategies for understanding meaning without knowing every word. Using Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky,” and framed as a nonjudgmental awareness initiative, the piece describes how nonsense can disarm ELL and remediation learners. It details student reactions, from denial and anger to bargaining and depression, and links the poem’s parts-of-speech focus to confidence and literary literacy.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/empowering-nonsense-reading-lewis-carrolls-jabberwocky-in-a-basic-writing-class/597619/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/empowering-nonsense-reading-lewis-carrolls-jabberwocky-in-a-basic-writing-class/597619.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"pop out","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-08","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why do basic writing students become afraid of words in college reading and writing?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"They fear unfamiliar places, methods, and serious consequences, but especially the “BIG words” they expect to be asked to read, understand, write, and be tested on.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How do readings and model texts support development in writing classes?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Reading model texts helps students learn by example: approaches to structuring essays and instruction in style, tone, vocabulary, spelling, syntax, grammar, and idioms.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why does the article recommend “Jabberwocky” for basic writing and ELL contexts?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The nonsense disarms new language learners because they can’t treat the invented words as simply correct or incorrect. The poem also supports parts of speech, vocabulary, reading skills, literary literacy, and builds confidence by lowering defenses.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},597619,1792085357,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":36,"preview_page_count":4},962090760408,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45","THE CEA FORUM  \nWinter/Spring 2014  \nEmpowering Nonsense: Reading Lewis Carroll’s“Jabberwocky” in a Basic Writing Class  \nChamutal Noimann  \nCity University of New York-BMCC  \nFirst year basic writing and reading college students are scared. More than the unfamiliar places, faces, methods and serious consequences ofit all, they are afraid of words. College means BIG words, words like “galvanization,”“slovenliness,”“egregious,” and “pretentious.” They are afraid because they know they will be asked to read, understand, write, and then be tested on these words. To make matters worse, most of the textbooks our students will read still suffer from the ills George Orwell describes in his classic essay “Politics and the English Language.”“The English Language is in a bad way,” declares Orwell, because it is plagued by “a mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence”(311). Even if they successfully complete remediation, move on to English 101 and advance to upper courses in other disciplines, developmental English students often face monstrous texts, which they have precious few skills to decipher. Asa long-time teacher of writing, currently at the exceptionally diverse City University of New York’s Borough of Manhattan Community College, I have struggled to help my students acquire the reading skills they will need throughout their academic career to decipher the vagueness and incompetence of college texts in order to be able to write about them intelligently.  \nThe ability to read aright is essential in writing, especially in developmental or basic writing, classes not only because the readings discussed provide content that students need to prove they understand, but also because reading model texts allows them to learn by example.  \nTHE CEA FORUM  \nWinter/Spring 2014  \nWe assign readings because they show how it is done when done right. This process does not only mean that readings offer them approaches to structuring an essay, they also teach style, tone, vocabulary, correct spelling, syntax, grammar, idioms. In class, we take time to help students uncover all of these wonders and try to mold them into independent readers and deliberate writers, but the lonely, too-short single semester we are allowed with them is never enough to make them truly self-sufficient. Since we cannot cover every word our students will encounter, we try to provide them with strategies that would help them understand the overall meaning of a sentence or a paragraph even without recognizing all the words in it.  \nHaving used Dr. Seuss's books and Edward Lear’s limericks in English Language Learner (ELL) classes before beginning my journey as a college professor, in fact, I am well aware of the pedagogical power of nonsense. I have often introduced Lewis Carroll’s“Jabberwocky” in my ELL classes because it not only offers a unique way to support an understanding of parts of speech, but it also disarms new language learners. It comforts them to know that they cannot make a mistake because the words do not have a correct or incorrect value, which in turn does wonders for class morale (Francis 308-9, Kasper 73) . For these same reasons,“Jabberwocky” is often used in grade schools to teach parts of speech and basic grammar, but the poem is just as, if not more, effective in higher education because it prepares students for more than just grammar (Billman & Cabrera, 1996) . In a college level basic writing course,“Jabberwocky” teaches vocabulary, reading skills, and literary literacy. Furthermore, it teaches confidence and self-esteem because it allows students to lower their defenses, relax into learning and build upon their strengths. Community college students in remediation are not only scared, they are also angry and frustrated because they were placed in remediation and told too  \nTHE CEA FORUM  \nWinter/Spring 2014  \nmany times that their writing and reading skills are incompetent (Elbow 285, 292 & Hynes 100) . Introducing a Nonjudgmental Awareness initiat","cbCailknwzbH0dgY","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailknwzbH0dgY","pdf",160264,16,"English","# THE CEA FORUM Winter/Spring 2014\n## Fear of words in basic writing\n## Readings as models for writing\n## Why “Jabberwocky” supports ELL and remediation\n## Student reactions mapped to grief stages","[{\"question\":\"Why do basic writing students become afraid of words in college reading and writing?\",\"answer\":\"They fear unfamiliar places, methods, and serious consequences, but especially the “BIG words” they expect to be asked to read, understand, write, and be tested on.\"},{\"question\":\"How do readings and model texts support development in writing classes?\",\"answer\":\"Reading model texts helps students learn by example: approaches to structuring essays and instruction in style, tone, vocabulary, spelling, syntax, grammar, and idioms.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the article recommend “Jabberwocky” for basic writing and ELL contexts?\",\"answer\":\"The nonsense disarms new language learners because they can’t treat the invented words as simply correct or incorrect. The poem also supports parts of speech, vocabulary, reading skills, literary literacy, and builds confidence by lowering defenses.\"}]","Empowering Nonsense: Reading Lewis Carroll’s \"Jabberwocky\" in a Basic Writing Class | PDF"]