re-imagining composition courses in light of best research-based practices

Elizabeth Wardle [email protected]

Elizabeth WardleDirector of Composition

Associate Chair for Writing Outreach ProgramsDept of Writing and RhetoricUniversity of Central Florida

[email protected]

Re-Imagining Composition Courses In Light of Best Research-Based Practices

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mailto:[email protected]


Questions for YouHow satisfied are you with your students’

writing abilities?How many writing or writing intensive

courses are students at your school required to take?

Do students at your institution write regularly in many of their college courses, with some opportunities for revision and feedback?

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Today’s Talk

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Why writing instruction seems to be failing our students

How we can do better


Why Can’t Students Write?The Harvard origins of first-year

composition

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The “Writing Paradigm that Fails Us”

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Assumes:That one course “fixes all”That writing is a “basic skill”That writing can be taught by anyone, even

by people who don’t want to teach it, aren’t qualified to teach it, and don’t get paid a living wage to teach it


What Would Work Better?

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Some common sense questions:How do you learn to write well? How do you learn to do anything well?How do you learn to write something new?


We Don’t Design Writing Curricula and Structures Based on What We

Know to be True About Writing

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If producing effective student writers for the complexities of the 21st century is a priority

Then we need to treat writing like a priorityAnd create more effective writing

structures and courses


Questions for YouIf you are an upper administrator, consider the

last time you spoke at length with a composition teacher or the director of the writing program?

If you are a writing faculty member, when was the last time you spoke at length with an upper administrator about your teaching and your program?

If you are a faculty member from another department, when was the last time that you spoke with a writing faculty member in an engaged way about student writing in your own course and left with ideas for how to improve it?

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II. In Search of a New Paradigm for Writing Instruction

Collaborative changes at UCFThe initial pilot projectAssessing the president’s pilot investment

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Assessment ResultsNew 19 Mean New 25 Mean Traditional 25

Meanp value Cronbach’s Alpha

Thinking 2.74 2.48 2.37 0.0255 0.8563

Polish 2.88 2.65 2.68 0.2276 0.8620

Rhetorically analyze

3.01 2.42 1.12 0.0001 0.8577

Consider idea 3.04 2.61 2.66 0.0047 0.8588

Reflective 3.07 2.71 0.52 0.0001 0.8640

In-text citation 2.64 2.49 2.13 0.0255 0.8591

Work cited 2.46 2.33 2.08 0.1713 0.8616

Outside sources 2.96 2.73 2.34 0.0004 0.8512

Two plus sources 2.97 2.85 2.04 0.0001 0.8665

Feedback 3.77 3.75 3.15 0.0001 0.8751

Macro revision 2.07 2.07 1.52 0.0032 0.8679

Micro revision 2.63 2.58 2.12 0.0160 0.8646

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The New Research-Based Model of Writing Instruction

Tenured or tenure track writing scholars to innovate best practices

Stable labor model for first-year composition & rigorous composition curriculum (Entry point)

Writing across the curriculum (Continued experience)

Writing center (Support for students)Writing minor, certificate, major; graduate

writing certificate; MA in Rhetoric & Composition (Opportunities for intensive study)

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What Should Composition Courses Do—And Why Is That So Hard?

“Common Sense” View of Writing

What Research Tells Us about Writing

Students just need to learn “the basics;” you can teach them “to write” once and for all.

Composing is a complex activity that occurs differently in different contexts. Consequently, a single class can’t teach students to write once and for all, in all situations, because genres and conventions vary from community to community and context to context.

When we teach students rules, they should easily be able to use them no matter what they are writing.

Composing effectively in new situations requires a complex repurposing of previous knowledge and experience. In order to successfully use what they already know in a new situation, students need meta-awareness and faculty need to create affordances for transfer.

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“Common Sense” View of Writing

What Research Tells Us About Writing

The English teacher teaches students “to write,” and the other teachers teach students “the content.”

Composing successfully entails expertise in both form and content; form and content are inseparable. Trying to teach through acontextual “skill and drill” or by instilling general rules about form can actually harm student writing later.

Teaching writing is just teaching a set of “how tos” (procedural knowledge)

Composing involves both declarative and procedural knowledge. Teaching writing is not just about “how to” but also about how writing works and how it’s learned and how it varies from place to place.

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First-Year Composition Courses Have Been…

teaching out of the “common sense” view of writing, not out of research-based best practices

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First-Year Composition Courses Should Be…Teaching both procedural (how to) and

declarative (about) writing knowledge to encourage transfer and rhetorical dexterity

Teaching meta-awareness and reflection about writing to encourage transfer

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Why Can’t Composition Courses Just Start Teaching From the Research?Very often, composition teachers do not have the disciplinary expertise in writing studies to teach writing most effectively

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To Help Composition Faculty Teach From the Research We Must…

Treat adjuncts like professionals.Change faculty attitudes about writing

scholarship

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Informing Composition with Research at UCF Entailed:

Removing the composition program from English

Replacing 33 adjuncts with 18 full-time, non-tenure track faculty over 4 years

Expecting all 11 tenured/tenure track writing scholars to teach composition and engage in discussions of research with the non-tenure track instructors

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Protecting the Money for Writing Instruction

President Hitt designated the new funding so that it could not be re-appropriated by the English Department or our College for other purposes.

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Questions for YouWhat is your writing process like? How much time do you spend writing, what kind

of resources do you use, how many revisions do you do?

What “trusted readers” give you feedback?

Talk with your group and compare notes on this. Consider the writing contexts we give to many of our students: timed writing tests, or two weeks to write a research paper. How do these contexts and subsequent processes compare with your own?

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Composition Understood Differently: Writing-about-WritingThe guiding assumption: Since we can’t teach students exactly how to write everything they will ever need to write (since conventions vary), we should teach them how to learn about how to write.

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Composition Understood Differently: Writing-about-Writing

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The Content:Texts/Constructs: How Do Readers Read

and Writers Write?Writing Processes: How Do You Write?Literacies: How Have You Become the

reader and Writer You are Today?Discourses: How Do Communities Shape

Writing?Authority: How Do You Make Yourself Heard

as a College Writer?


What Writing-about- Writing Composition Courses Assume

Students have to write differently in different writing situations

Expertise in a particular genre and context is only gained within that context

If students understand how writing works, how they and others go about writing, and what questions to ask when they encounter a new writing situation, they are more likely to succeed.

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What Writing-about-Writing Courses Require of Composition Faculty

Becoming familiar with writing research and best practices

Constantly re-evaluating the effectiveness of their teaching content and practices

Participating in teacher training first and then in ongoing professional developmentWe are making our teacher training publicly

accessible through the Next Generation Learning Challenge Grant

6-week training plus resource site on BB’s free CourseSites

Interested? Email me: [email protected]



What Writing-about-Writing Assumes About the Rest of the Curriculum

More writing is to come in students’ college careers

Faculty in those subsequent courses have the support they need to assign, respond to, and assess that writing

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In Conclusion:The Solution to the Writing ProblemInvest in writing teachers and writing

curriculaExpect all faculty to share in the

responsibilities for helping students writeSupport both teachers and students in their

writing efforts

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10 Questions To Ask On Your Own Campus

About Your First-Year Composition Program Where is the composition program housed and why is it housed there? What are the qualifications of those who run the writing program, what expertise do

they have in Composition and Rhetoric, and what is their typical rank? Who does the composition program serve? Whose graduate students does it support,

for whom does it produce student credit hours, are resources returned to it in appropriate amounts given its credit hour production and role in the GEP?

Who staffs most of the composition courses? What is their expertise in writing? What are they paid? How often does the staff change? What professional development is offered to them?

What institutional incentives are there for writing specialists to spend time working with faculty across the curriculum on issues related to student writing?

How is writing assessed? About Student Writing Across the Curriculum What are the desired outcomes for student writing on your campus? What evidence

do you have that these outcomes are being achieved? What organized opportunities do students have to write regularly throughout their

career college or university? What institutional incentives are there for faculty from all disciplines to include

writing in their courses? What support do faculty from all disciplines have when they want to assign and

assess student writing in their courses? 27


Resources to Help You Council of Writing Program Administrators (http://wpacouncil.org/)

Consultant-Evaluator Service Writing Assessment Resources Journal

Comppile (http://comppile.org/)

Searchable database of composition-related research Research bibliographies on common topics in writing instruction and administration CompFAQs—discussions of common questions related to writing instruction and

administration

UCF’s Department of Writing and Rhetoric (

http://writingandrhetoric.cah.ucf.edu/) Writing about Writing Composition Courses

Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Bedford/St Martin’s, 2010.

Writing about Writing teacher training and resource site on Blackboard’s CourseSites. Funded by the Next Generation Learning Challenge Grant. For access, email Elizabeth Wardle [email protected]

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http://wpacouncil.org/

http://comppile.org/

http://writingandrhetoric.cah.ucf.edu/



Questions & Discussion?

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re-imagining composition courses in light of best research-based practices

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