Writing Across the Curriculum
Summary of reform:
"Writing Across the Curriculum programs are not simply additive (more term
papers, more writing assessment); nor are they programs for teaching
grammar . . . . Instead, at its best, WAC involves a comprehensive
program of faculty development and curricular change, instituting writing
in vitrually all university courses in order to improve students' writing
and critical thinking skills." (McLeod and Soven, 1991)
Two philosophical bases exist: Writing is used by students as a tool to
develop thinking and learning skills. As well, students can use writing to
construct their own knowledge and become conversant within and across
disciplines.
Connection to other reforms: Critical Thinking; New Wave Calculus
Model Institutions:
University of California at Santa Barbara, Utah State University, Bucknell
University, Syracuse University, Michigan Technological University, Beaver
College, Marshall University, SUNY-Cortland, National University
Web Site:
http://orchard.cortland.edu/WACguide/WACsection1.html
http://orchard.cortland.edu/WACguide/WACsection2.html
http://orchard.cortland.edu/WACguide/WACsection3.html
http://www2.nu.edu/nu/intro/vcampus/admin/catalog/writing.html
http://www.peru.edu/~djrhet/wac.html
Types of institutions: Multiple institution types
Duration: since mid 1980s
Source list of institutions:
Contact for further information:
The Council of Writing Program Administrators; Barbara Cambridge
(AAHE)
Level of institutionalization:
The most successful programs have institutional support for
working groups across disciplines but often this reform is
occurring within individual classrooms since it requires little
structural or cultural changes and few resources.
Outcomes:
Improved writing abilities, critical thinking, problem solving,
analyzing relationships between knowledge gained in different
fields.
Process:
Writing across the curriculum has become popular for two different
reasons: 1) Educators, employers, and policy makers are concerned about
the development of students writing skills in college especially within
science fields; 2) There is a realization that students often memorize and
regurgitate information and that only through having them write out their
understanding can we be sure they understand the concepts. For these two
reasons there has been increased emphasis on essay exams, more writing
assignments, journal writing, and written homework assignments in math and
science courses. Also writing is essential for drawing conclusions and
interpretations. Some suggest that writing is essential to the
development of critical thinking. Writing also illustrates students
problem solving process and helps faculty to understand where they may
have made an error in their problem solving. There is a particular
emphasis in computer, statistics, and math courses where writing was not
emphasized in the past.
Journal writing is a method of having students reflect on their learning
in the course and documenting these thoughts and feelings in a daily or
weekly journal. This requires students to write as well as reflect on
their learning.
Target of Reform:
curriculum
K-12 parallel: A parallel movement seems to be taking
place both at the elementary and secondary leve.
Origination of reform:
Institutional
Support:
Doesn't seem to get much funding, mostly individual institutions or
departments chose to make the change
Linking Characteristic 1: back to basics
Linking Characteristic 2: student centered
Linking Characteristic 3: linking or integrating
Linking Characteristic 4:
Assessment?
Description of assessment:
At this time, we are not able to determine if assessment is taking
place and to what degree if it is occurring. It does not appear to
be assessed beyond Pat Cross' classroom assessment techniques.
Extensive assessment may not occur in the near future as there is
little national support for this initiative. Some beginnings of a
research discussion are taking place within the writing program
administrator community (Brian Huot, Syracuse)
Resistances:
Some resistance results from student and faculty culture. Students
are often upset at having to write since they don't understand why
it is necessary. Faculty face the decision about critiquing not
just content of the writing but the form (syntax and grammatical
errors). This often creates further tension with students, since
the evaluation can become more subjective and seem too personal.
As well, many faculty consider writing across the curriculum to
absorb too much of their time and energy in construction of
assignments and evaluation. On another level, writing across the
curriculum provides a feedback to the teacher of what students
thought the teacher wanted them to learn which can be a painful
realization for the teacher (also a subjective form of teacher
evaluation on this level).
Evolution/History:
Writing across the curriculum has become popular for two different
reasons: 1) Educators, employers, and policy makers are concerned about
the development of students writing skills in college especially within
science fields; 2) There is a realization that students often memorize and
regurgitate information and that only through having them write out their
understanding can we be sure they understand the concepts. For these two
reasons there has been increased emphasis on essay exams, more writing
assignments, journal writing, and written homework assignments in math and
science courses. Also writing is essential for drawing conclusions and
interpretations. Some suggest that writing is essential to the development
of critical thinking. Writing also illustrates students problem solving
process and helps faculty to understand where they may have made an error
in their problem solving. There is a particular emphasis in computer,
statistics, and math courses where writing was not emphasized in the past.
Notes:
Major sources:
Coles, W. (1991.) Writing Across the Curriculum: Why Bother. Rhetoric
Society Quarterly, 21(4).
Durfee, P. Writing-to-Learn in Technical Writing. College Teaching,
37(1).
Fulwiler, T. (1982.) Writing: An act of cognition. In Teaching writing
in all disciplines., edited by C. Griffin, 15-24. San Francisco: Jossey
Bass.
Huot, B. (1992.) Finding out What They Are Writing: A Method, Rational,
and Sample for Writing-Across-the-Curriculum Research. Journal of the
Council of Writing Program Administrators, 15(3).
Kirscht, J., Levine, R., and Reiff, J. (1994.) WAC and the Rhetoric of
Inquiry. College Composition and Communication, 45(3).
Mahala, D. (1991.) Writing Utopias: Writing Across the Curriculum and the
Promis of Reform. College English, 53(7).
McLeod, S., and Soven, M. (1991.) What Do You Need to Start - and Sustain
- a Writing-Across-the-Curriculum Program? Journal of the Council of
Writing Program Administrators, 15(1-2).
Rubin, L. Professors Write to Learn about Write-to-Learn. College
Teaching, 36(3).
Shibli, A. Increasing Learning with Writing in Quantitative and Computer
Courses. College Teaching, 40(4).
Waldo, M. (1993.) The Last Best Place for Writing Across the Curriculum:
The Writing Center. Journal of the Council of Writing Program
Administrators, 16(3).
White, E. (1988.) Process vs. Product: Assessing Skills in Writing. AAHE
Bulletin, October 1988.
