Business Writing? Word.

The end of the academic year is a paradox of clichéd metaphors: things are winding down simultaneously with their ramping up. Students scurry to finish their portfolios; teachers exhaust themselves grading megabytes of paper; and we teaching assistants are stuck precariously in between: we scurry and exhaust, finish our work and grade that of our students. In the midst of all this whir and huff, the average conversation on campus consists of itemized lists: “All I have to do is X, Y, and Z before I am done.”

It was during one of these exchanges that I learned about Microsoft Word’s ability to evaluate the level of writing within a document (as in a grade-level akin to reading-level: 12th grade writing level, etc.). The information was coupled with the sigh that the business program at St. Cloud State relies heavily on Word’s writing-level evaluation in their paper grading. I was confused. I was aghast. Having freshly learned about Word’s ability to process data and determine a level of writing—and without having toyed with the software’s application myself—my knowledge of composition immediately made me confident there was something wrong with the business program’s practice.

Software is unable to identify clichés. Software is unable to recognize clever wordplay. Software is unable to appreciate rhetorical, literary, or poetic tropes. Software is unable to assess the accuracy of content. Software is an impractical tool for the grading of writing, even coupled with a business professor’s keen eyes. It can do a number of tasks though, to be sure; I imagine Word can at least recognize syntactic fluency, proper mechanics and spelling, and formatting. But to have any faith in the notion that these last items are all that composes a person’s “writing-level”? Absurdity. Malarkey. Blasphemy. That any business instructor places stock in the feature is disheartening.

Now, I confess the need to find the function and play around before my final assessment. Conversations at semester’s end tend to be brief, and, in the haste of the day, I did not learn or think to ask where the function is located; nor do I have time to dig around overmuch myself. I also confess the level of reliance the business program places on Word’s writing-level is anecdotal only. Nevertheless, the situation is provocative. If any readers want to comment with their experience or reactions, I’d love to read them.