supporting scholarly exchange about communication across the curriculum
Content Area:
Communication Across the Curriculum
Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum
Writing to Learn vs. Writing in the Disciplines
Discipline:
One way to get a better understanding of WAC-related issues is to see how they have been addressed in local contexts. While many books and articles have been published from various campuses' local projects, graduate students' theses and dissertations also offer a wealth of information that, sometimes, becomes forgotten after the degree is completed. The Theses and Dissertations page provides you with access to these projects-in abstract and/or fulltext. We encourage you to browse through the thesis and dissertation titles to develop a clear sense of WAC's depth and breadth. This page is meant to be a valuable resource for the development of your next WAC project, whether it is designing a campus program, researching for an article, or writing your own thesis or dissertation.
We currently have abstracts available courtesy of UMI's Online Dissertation Services that are displayed with permission. Theses and dissertations available in fulltext are presented courtesy of their authors and are displayed with their permission. We want to make more of these texts available to a larger audience. If you did a WAC-related project to fulfill the requirements for a graduate degree and you have chosen not to publish the manuscript, we encourage you to make the fulltext of your thesis or dissertation available to others. To add a thesis or dissertation description to this page, to discuss adding fulltext manuscripts to this page or to provide suggestions about how to make this page more user-friendly, please contact me.
--Kevin Eric De Pew
Theses and Dissertations Editor
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 46 independent variables associated with English/Language Arts curricular design upon writing achievement. This longitudinal study analyzed 775 high school students' writing samples, schoolwide essays and portfolios, collected over a three-year period. The data were submitted to stepwise multiple regression analyses. Results indicate that neither age, gender, nor ethnicity significantly affects writing achievement at high school level; socio-economic status affects the writing achievement of younger high school students more significantly than of older ones. Students' academic achievement, is a strong predictor of writing achievement. of the 46 independent variables, reading ability proved the strongest predictor of writing achievement. Though student mobility exerts moderate influence upon writing achievement, student attendance in English/Language Arts class does not. The effect of class size upon writing performance is negligible. Student attitudes toward writing are a fairly strong predictor of writing achievement; however, attitudes toward high school do not appear to influence writing performance. Teacher effect influences writing achievement more significantly when performance is measured by portfolio assessment. English/Language Arts curricular program design influences writing achievement more strongly when measured by schoolwide essays than by portfolio assessments. Implications for the teaching of writing include teaching reading in the high school English classroom, creating more opportunities for writing Across the curriculum, implementing consistent and educationally sound procedures for the review and revision of curricular program design, and improving student attitudes toward writing. Implications for future research include studying English/Language Arts programs, empirically focusing upon the interconnection of reading and writing processes, and investigating in greater depth the effects of teacher attitudes toward teaching.
The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) literature was surveyed to determine the most widely supported recommended practices. Forty-one Core WAC Recommended Practices were identified as guidance for content area professors' attempts to help students write more proficiently. A questionnaire was constructed and administered to professors at one of Ontario's largest community colleges to determine how closely the professors of specialist subjects were adhering to those recommendations from the professional literature. of 41 recommendations made by experts in WAC, faculty were commonly practicing fewer than half. of the independent variables (length of teaching career, extent of education, gender, and discipline area), only the discipline area substantially influenced the professors' choice of writing supportive practices: English professors teaching content area courses (literature), practice more of the WAC recommended practices.
This study examined how college freshmen adapt to discipline demands as they write Across the curriculum. By focusing on the revisions students made to two essays written for freshman composition and one paper written for another discipline, I wanted to determine what prompted the students to make revisions and how they compared Across disciplines. Twelve students participated in this study. Case study data included: pre- and post-study questionnaires, report-in tapes made during revising, classification revisions, interviews with the professors, and observation of several composition classes. From the data that comprised the case studies, I categorized the reported motivations as concerns that prompted revision. I next compared the students' motivations for revisions Across the disciplines to determine if the motivations for English papers were similar to or different from the motivations that prompted revision for papers outside English. Results indicated seven concerns that motivated revision in all disciplines: professor influence, desire for clarity, influence of perceived audience, polishing of written product, conformity to perceived discipline standards, and length requirement. Analysis of the students' revisions and the comparison of concerns that motivated revisions Across disciplines suggest that students view revising in all disciplines in much the same way. The nature of the concerns that motivated revision led to surface level revisions and concentration on sections of the text with microstructure level changes rather than macrostructure level changes that would affect the meaning of the total text. This was true for English and classes in other disciplines. of the seven concerns cited, students were primarily concerned with the professor's approval in all disciplines. The English professor influenced revision decisions beyond the English classroom. Professors in other disciplines differed in their expectations for student writing. Students revised less in classes where the professor spent little time in discussion of the papers. Lack of professor involvement seemed to contribute to a reduced level of concern with writing and revising. In summary, students tended to use similar revision strategies Across disciplines. Unfortunately, the revision strategies that were successful in freshman composition did not always produce papers that were considered successful by professors in other disciplines.
The purpose of this study was to find out whether writing skills were a handicap to job success for former basic writers who had graduated from college. A population of 197 former basic writers (FBW's) and 68 former strong writers (FSW's, used as a comparison) were surveyed and interviewed. Research questions included (1) What types of jobs do FBW's have, compared to FSW's, and how much do their feelings about writing affect their choices of major or job? (2) How much and how often do FBW's write at work compared to FSW's? (3) What forms of writing do FBW's do most frequently compared to FSW's? (4) How do FBW's feel about the writing they do for their jobs, compared to FSW's? (5) How satisfied are FBW's with their writing ability at work, compared to FSW's? (6) How nervous are FBW's about writing at work, compared to FSW's? (7) If FBW's are writing adequately enough to keep their jobs, how are they able to do this? According to the data from the survey, which yielded a response rate of 68%, FBW's did about the same amount and types of writing as the FSW's, they reported feeling almost as positive about and satisfied with their writing as FSW's, experienced almost as much enjoyment and were not paralyzed with anxiety. Follow-up interviews indicated that FBW's were writing adequately at work and feeling more positive about writing than they had in college because writing requirements were usually short and routine, they had sufficient time to write, they had knowledge of the subject matter, which was focused and predictable, they were familiar with the audiences or their audience needs, sense of purpose was stronger, and the rewards and consequences of writing were more obvious. In addition, FBW's were more mature than in college and had better attitudes and higher motivation. Finally, through work, FBW's had become members of select social and discourse communities. Implications for the teaching profession include writing Across the curriculum, composition courses in the senior year, real life writing assignments, and sequenced writing in class and on final examinations.
This study examined the effect taking two literature courses as part of the Gordon Rule Requirement has on CLAST essay and writing subtest scores. Additionally, the question of amount of feedback given by the faculty to students via their written assignments was addressed through a survey designed by this researcher. A student survey was also designed and administered in order to address the issue of self-selection into certain courses. Transcripts from CLAST takers at Broward Community College, Broward County, Florida, from 4 administrations of CLAST were studied (March, June, October, 1990, and February, 1991). Students were divided into two groups: those who had taken two literature courses and those who had not, and a random sample of 150 from each group was drawn. This group was then divided based on college prep experience. The instructor survey was administered to all faculty who teach writing credit courses, and the student survey administered to a random selection of students. Based on anova, multiple regression, and discriminant analysis, results are as follows: (1) Students who took two literature courses scored significantly higher on both the essay and writing subtests of CLAST, but students ultimately passed at higher rates only for the writing portion. (2) On the writing subtest, as a predictor of higher scores, group membership does not seem to be a reliable factor; however, group membership does aid in separating those who passed from those who failed. (3) On the essay subtest, group membership is a significant predictor of higher essay scores; however, its use in separating groups on the basis of ultimately passing or failing does not appear to be significant. Based on these results, recommendations include that students should be urged to take more literature courses as part of their writing credits. By virtue of the fact that English teachers assign more frequent writing assignments throughout the term, they are therefore naturally giving more feedback to students. Non-English faculty should participate in writing Across the curriculum workshops so that they are made aware of the recent research and methodology related to teaching writing classes.
The assumption that writing improvement can be more successfully realized through a pedagogical Approach of integrating all communicative skills was comparatively evaluated. The focus of this study was to identify any significant difference between achievement of students in a remedial writing class, receiving instruction through the use of Integrated Skills Reinforcement (ISR) strategies, and a group taught by conventional teaching methods. Previous research had not demonstrated that such a factor had been isolated. Proponents of ISR methods and of 'writing Across the curriculum' addressed the need to foster writing as an ongoing activity in all disciplines. This study postulated that because underprepared college students are usually deficient in all communicative skills, writing ability should be enhanced if the skills of speech, listening, reading and reasoning are taught simultaneously. The study was conducted with two second level remedial writing classes. Students in these classes were assigned on the basis of minimum requirement scores received when they took the City University (CUNY) placement test in writing. Historical data gathered from the academic files of these students revealed that they all shared a common environmental experience: being from inner-city deprived neighborhoods. While students of the experimental class received instruction through the use of ISR strategies, the comparison class received traditional instruction in writing. Based on the CUNY grading scale, students registered in both classes received a score of 3 on their placement test. The average score for both classes was, therefore, 3. After one semester of instruction, the average score for the experimental class, taught by ISR strategies, moved to 4.02. The traditionally taught class showed an average of 3.45. Although students of the experimental class were highly motivated and made enormous efforts to surmount their writing deficiencies, the improvement realized was not as great as one would hope for. Personal interviews with students and their responses to a questionnaire at the end of the semester revealed that students welcomed the integrated strategies used during the course. However, they admitted that progress was constantly in conflict with colloquial language patterns. With such limitations, possible modification of the study was proposed.
Since journals were introduced into the composition curriculum in the 1960's, they have become increasingly important components both of writing and writing Across the curriculum courses. Yet the available literature shows we know little about the historical and social contexts of journal and diary keeping. This dissertation looks at the ways gender informs our students' attitudes toward and experience with journal keeping in both academic and nonacademic settings. Using three men's and three women's journals as the focal point of my discussion, I find striking sex differences both in the quantity and in the 'qualities' of the journals they wrote. These patterned differences, I claim, are linked with centuries- old gendered traditions of journal and diary keeping, and are consonant with other larger gendered patterns in discourse, which in large part, are a consequence of the dominant/muted and public/private relationships men and women have held with regard to language. Implications for teaching and further research are discussed.
The purpose of this study is to provide a writing pedagogy grounded in Theory. The teaching method I developed consists of sequencing certain types of assignments. The classification of types and the organizational structure of the sequences are based on a teaching model that draws upon Theories from various disciplines. The teaching activities that constitute the pedagogy are not new in themselves. What is new is the teacher's awareness of purposes underlying these activities. The pedagogy aims at improving thinking through writing. It is based on two models, one educational-cognitive-developmental, and one logical-rhetorical. In the first two chapters, a model from educational Theory is expanded with cognitive developmental Theories to create a social constructionist-based model for cognitive and ethical growth for ages 18 and beyond. In the third chapter, a logical model for informal argument is expanded with rhetorical Theories to create a social constructionist-based model for communication. The developmental model and the argument model are then connected through the pedagogy: the sequence in which the argument model is taught corresponds closely to the phases of the developmental model. Furthermore, the teaching sequence is geared to systematically address conventional composition concerns such as invention, organization, revision, and concern with audience. In the fourth chapter, four possible applications of the pedagogy are presented as guidelines to college-level writing teachers. The pedagogy relies on reading to introduce and on writing to explore different perspectives on a variety of popular topics. Because of its emphasis on the relationship between reading and writing, the pedagogy lends itself to use in freshman composition courses as well as Across the curriculum courses on all levels. In general writing courses, the pedagogy can be used to discover and teach the habits of mind and of presentation necessary in academia, to help students traverse their college careers more effectively. In Across the discipline writing courses, the pedagogy can be used to analyze the more specialized habits of mind and presentation of individual academic disciplines, from a rhetorical, humanities-based perspective.
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