Few language educators have put the English sentence under full scrutiny the way New Angle On Writing does. For almost a century and a half, Writing specialists have been chiseling away at various aspects of the theory and practice of Writing, but they have failed to develop a systematic conception and method for teaching the sentence as the essential, indispensable skill of effective writing. The prevailing pedagogies of Writing do not usefully translate their theories into good student practice in the classroom, and they have manifestly failed to teach the majority of students to write competent, graceful prose even after many years of university instruction. New Angle On Writing imaginatively and skillfully weaves together the best of the threads of thought developed in the past regarding the practice and teaching of Writing. It provides a comprehensive explanation and integration of the 4 prevailing pedagogies of Writing. However, it goes much further by identifying the 127 Essential and Universally Used Sentence Forms, conveniently arranged in 10 main groups plus 1 group of lone rangers, which are all amply explained and exemplified. New Angle On Writing highlights the sentence with its ever-changing fluid forms, new appearances, and rhetorical uses as the master key for effective writing. The book is fresh and forceful in its rhetoric, meticulously thorough in its investigation, and proven in its effectiveness with students. New Angle on Writing maps out the route and roots of Writing in clearly articulated and easily understood language. The book is replete with visually appealing charts, and its unique system of mnemonics allows every student of English to get a handle on Writing with nothing more needed than their own hands.
About the Author: Richard Dowling is an associate professor with the Asian Division of the University of Maryland University College, where he has taught English Composition, History, and Government courses in Asia for 20 years - including Guam, Japan, and Australia for 20 years, with 15 of those years in South Korea. He received a B.A. in History and Philosophy from Wheeling University in 1966, and an M.A. in History from Duquesne University in 1968. He also completed two years of doctoral work in History at the University of Connecticut from 1968 to 1970. Subsequently, he received a B.S. in English from the State University of New York in 1990, and a permanent certificate to teach both English and Social Studies in grade 7-12 from the State of New York in1991. In 2008, he published his first book The Youth and Maturity of Humanity: Interpreting American, Modern, and Impending Global History as One Story. The book is available online. He introduced the New Angle on Writing in a preliminary form (The Two Hands Approach) at the KOTESOL conference in Daegu, South Korea in October 2000 and again in a talk at a KOTESOL meeting in the spring of 2010. He has taught this Approach for over 12 years.