Research
While
some believe that including social and political issues in first-year college
composition pedagogy helps students learn to read, research, think, and write
critically, others are concerned that focusing on such controversial topics
will draw students away from the traditional goals of this course (introduction
to academic prose, writing as a process, instruction in grammar and usage).
These concerns are being voiced not only among composition theorists and practitioners
but also among those outside the academy who worry that students at this impressionable
time in their lives will be swayed toward the political ideologies of the teacher
or of the more powerful members of the class.
This study examines the controversies over what students should be learning
in first-year composition . It provides a brief overview of the history of rhetoric
and writing instruction to show that such instruction has always been informed
by social and political issues. It then places the current controversies over
this pedagogy into a theoretical framework. Drawing from rhetorical, feminist,
multicultural, literacy, and critical theory, it explores the complex and interdisciplinary
nature of the questions surrounding the content of first-year writing curricula
and the arguments concerning the inclusion of current controversial issues within
them. It also examines opinions from some composition directors and faculty
about the first-year writing class as an appropriate site for addressing social
and political issues and describes some specific pedagogies that work toward
that end. Finally, it analyzes five composition textbooks to determine ways
in which they address social and political issues in light of the concerns expressed
by composition theorists and practitioners.
The study concludes that there are ways to both meet the traditional goals of
first-year writing instruction and to introduce students to social and political
issues as a way to help them improve their abilities to read, write, and think
critically. It recommends more persistent efforts to engage composition practitioners
in their relevant discourse communities and more research into the experiences
of students enrolled in first-year college writing courses that address social
and political controversies.
Project WIND-EAU is a systematic effort to learn how all teaching faculty and teaching academic staff in all disciplines at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) assign, use, and evaluate writing in their courses. In addition, this project seeks to assess the impact of changing information technologies on student writing at UWEC.
Throughout the 2001-2002 academic year, the Project
WIND-EAU team collected three types of data to allow methodological triangulation:
We identified consistent areas of faculty concern with students' ability to write, and identified areas in which faculty perceptions and approaches differed greatly regarding students and writing. Some topics of our research include the pedagogical use of writing assignments, concern with student writing performance, faculty attitudes towards technology, faculty attitudes regarding plagiarism, faculty attitudes about the critical thinking skills of students, and faculty observations about aspect (s) of writing (grammar and mechanics, content, style, synthesis, etc.) that are most important and/or most problematic.
Analysis of our survey responses, interviews, and students' writing samples strongly suggest that one required writing course during our students' first year of college should be only the beginning--not the end--of their college writing instruction. Some advanced writing courses in the English Department are offered as general electives. While such writing courses can enhance students' general understanding of writing strategies, forms, and purposes, our research suggests that students need further writing experience that becomes increasingly targeted to the discourses, methods of inquiry, and rhetorical strategies of their own disciplines.
Several departments at UWEC require (or at least offer) a writing intensive course that further develops their majors' use of writing to better understand and interact with the discipline. History, Business Communication, and Philosophy/Religious Studies are examples of departments that have courses with the word "writing" in the title; some departments, such as Biology, Mathematics, Social Work, and a few others have writing-intensive courses that include significant and/or frequent writing assignments and instruction. We view these courses as models from which interdisciplinary conversations could begin. A number of faculty from a variety of disciplines already use effective strategies for teaching and assigning writing, and we believe that we could all learn much from each other.
All of the participants in our study are clearly concerned about the writing performance of UWEC students. They recognize a variety of reasons for including writing in their courses, and they have realistic expectations about the quality of writing their students should be turning in. They want students to become good critical thinkers, to engage in thorough and meaningful research, to learn how to organize and develop their ideas effectively, and to apply the conventions of English grammar and usage accurately and creatively. However, many of them are concerned about the quality of the writing students are submitting; they both appreciate and express concern about the effects of technology on students' learning; and they want to find more effective ways to help students understand the seriousness of plagiarism.
The WIND-EAU project was made possible by a Curriculum Redevelopment Grant funded by the following units:
The Professional Development Advisory
Council
Academic Affairs Assessment Program
Department of English
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
NET Committee
| 1996 | Improving Integration of the English
Composition Laboratory and First-Year College Composition |
Noelle Ambrose |
|
| 2002 | Assessing the Value of an Institution-Wide Requirement for Writing Intensive Courses beyond the First-Year Composition Course |
| Daniel Boster |