Writing in and across Disciplines
A TRANSFORMATIONAL APPROACH FOR WAC/WID: CASE STUDIES IN TUNING AND PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT WRITING ABILITIES
Paul V. Anderson
Elon University, Elon, North Carolina, USA
WAC/WID programs in the US and similar programs in other countries have not yet realized their full potential for developing students’ writing abilities and enhancing their learning because they have drawn an imaginary boundary around their activities that restricts their focus to individual courses and faculty. Even in US programs that require several writingintensive courses, each WI class stands alone, independent of the other(s). The European Union’s TUNING project (part of the Bologna Process) and its US adherents suggest a transformational solution. A disciplinary program’s entire faculty can collaborate to coordinate the writing instruction in their courses in order to scaffold writing instruction across its curriculum just as WAC/WID instructors scaffold writing instruction within standalone WI courses. Elon University designed a fourphase method for creating such writing plans. First, a program identifies graduationlevel writing outcomes. Outcomes are framed rhetorically. Each has a genre, audience, and use the (aftergraduation) audience will make of the communication. In Phase 2, the program determines how each course will build on previous learning and prepare for the writing instruction in following courses. Phases 3 and 4 involve pilot testing and refining plans. This process resembles the fullcycle assessment required by US accrediting agencies, so it is not completely new, though its application to writing is. While the process seems straightforward, implementation must be adapted to each program’s specific requirements, culture, and penchants. After explaining the theoretical and practical context for Elon’s process, I will compare seven programs’ different journeys through the first two phases.
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