While 'Freshman Composition' or 'First-Year Writing' as it is now known, has long been a staple of the undergraduate 'core' curriculum in North American universities, such units of study have been much slower to catch on in Australia. However, as evidenced by recent public debates on literacy, both at the secondary and tertiary level, the times are a-changing, ushering in a new focus on developing students' academic writing and public speaking abilities as essential graduate attributes.
The Faculty of Arts has responded to this educational shift by establishing two new units of study at the undergraduate level, WRIT1001 and WRIT1002, which mark a departure from ordinary 'English for Academic Purposes' units. The WRIT units will focus on writing across the curriculum or more specifically, writing in the disciplines, making them relevant for all university students. And while these units will feature an oral communication component, a third unit dedicated solely to academic speaking and presentation is in the works.
WRIT1001, coordinated by the Department of Linguistics, emphasizes the English language as a communicative code in contact with languages with very different discourse strategies. It will focus on fundamental differences and similarities between academic English and academic registers of other languages, making it highly appropriate for both native and non-native speakers of English.
WRIT1002, coordinated by the Department of English, is a more advanced unit and focuses on effective argumentation and essay writing across disciplines, using classical rhetoric as its theoretical base. It is recommended for those who already possess a strong command of the English language but wish to improve their writing. WRIT 1001 is not a prerequisite for WRIT 1002, but the units are designed to complement each other, with each focusing on different aspects of academic language, writing, and presentation.
Recent research on academic writing indicates that effective writing is much more than a skill to be mastered. Mark Richardson, Professor of Writing and Linguistics at Georgia Southern University, identifies eight truths that dispel the notion of writing instruction as a mere skill-building exercise1:
- Students who do one kind of writing well will not automatically do other kinds of writing well.
- The conventions of thought and expression in disciplines differ, enough so that what one learns in order to write in one discipline might have to be unlearned to write in another.
Writing is not the expression of thought; it is thought itself. Papers are not containers for ideas, containers that need only to be well formed for those ideas to emerge clearly. Papers are the working out of ideas. The thought and the container take shape simultaneously (and develop slowly, with revision).
- When students are faced with an unfamiliar writing challenge, their apparent ability to write will falter across a broad range of "skills". For example, a student who handles grammatical usage, mechanics, organization, and tone competently in an explanation of the effects of global warming on coral reefs might look like a much weaker writer when she tries her hand at a chemistry-lab report for the first time.
Teaching students grammar and mechanics through drills often does not work.
- Patterns of language usage, tangled up in complex issues like personal and group identities, are not easy to change.
- Rhetorical considerations like ethos, purpose, audience, and occasion are crucial to even such seemingly small considerations as word choice and word order.
- Writing involves abilities we develop over our lifetimes. Some students are more advanced in them when they come to [university] than are others. Those who are less advanced will not develop to a level comparable to the more-prepared students in one year or even in two, although they may reach adequate levels of ability over time.
Richardson's observations are in keeping with recent approaches to academic writing at top-flight universities such as Stanford and the University of California at Davis, which offer 'stand-alone' writing units as well as workshops for embedding effective writing instruction in existing units of study across disciplines. Stanford's Program in Writing and Rhetoric and UC Davis's University Writing Program advocate writing as a discipline-specific enterprise, reliant upon the expertise and cooperation of participating faculties. Both programs feature thriving writing centres, where the various units are coordinated and supported.
The Faculty of Arts, in partnership with Stanford and UC Davis, aims to expand the existing academic writing program through collaboration with other faculties across the university via the Writing Program Hub, which will be operational in Semester One 2009. The Hub will offer support for staff in designing effective writing assignments, support for WRIT students, and writing programs for secondary teachers and students.
The Faculty of Arts Academic Writing initiative is part of a broader approach toward achieving Graduate Attributes, as represented in the Faculty of Arts Teaching and Learning Network, established in January 2007. The Network, funded by the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund, is comprised of four portfolios: Student Success, Staff Support and Development, E-Learning, and Academic Writing, with a dedicated director for each.
The WRIT units will build on other successful academic writing initiatives in Arts, including the WRITE SITE, the employment of a dedicated postgraduate writing adviser, a new postgraduate academic writing and communication unit (ARTS7000), and academic writing partnerships with local high schools, funded by large grants from The Department of Education and Training's Quality Teaching/Action Learning (QTAL) Program.
Dr Susan Thomas, Institute for Teaching and Learning
Email Dr Susan Thomas: susan.thomas@usyd.edu.au
Enquiries about these initiatives may be directed
as follows:
WRIT1001: Professor Bill Foley
WRIT1002: Dr Rebecca Johinke
The Academic Writing Portfolio and QTAL: Dr Susan Thomas
The WRITE SITE: Dr Nerida Jarkey
ARTS7000: Dr Louise Katz
Arts Postgraduate Writing Advising: Dr Bronwen Dyson