Writing to Learn
Two sources that have been cited as starting this movement called WAC are Janet Emig's essay "Writing as a Mode of Learning," which appeared in the May 1977 issue of College Composition and Communication (vol. XXVII, no. 2) 122-28 and James Britton's report of the Bullock Commission titled The Development of Writing Abilities (11-18). London: Macmillan Education, 1975.
Emig's argument in "Writing as a Mode of Learning" is generally considered to be central to the concept of writing across the curriculum. In that article, Emig argues for the position that "Writing represents a unique mode of learning-not merely valuable, not merely special, but unique&. The thesis is straightforward. Writing serves learning uniquely because writing as process-and-product possesses a cluster of attributes that correspond uniquely to certain powerful learning strategies" (122).
I bring this argument to your attention because a simple glance at proposals for WI courses reveals that very few courses consciously employ Model Three: Writing-to-Learn. In Writing Across the Curriculum Program Handbook, this kind of writing is described as writing students do "primarily for themselves; they write about what they think, what they understand, and what they do not understand in the course material" (8). Just like you or me, students must enter the writing process at some point, hopefully using one or more of the strategies taught in Engl 1100 and 1200, including free writing, brainstorming, listing, diagramming, etc. These activities are simultaneously writing-to-learn activities AND prewriting activities. Using them can help you link writing in your courses to learning goals and help your students begin writing.
James Britton, especially in his book with Burgess, Martin, McLeod, and Rosen, The Development of Writing Abilities (11-18) [London: Macmillan Education, 1975], has helped teachers envision the various "functions" of writing.
Working with the Bullock Commission in England in the early seventies, Britton and his colleagues determined three functions for writing, which they call expressive, transactional, and poetic. Briefly, expressive writing is writing closest to thought, the kind of writing we do when we seem to think on paper. Most prewriting activities would fall into this category. The Commission defines expressive writing as "writing closest to the self" and "the matrix from which all other writing evolves." Transactional writing is the kind of writing that gets something done. It is addressed to an audience and writers are accountable for the accuracy of what they have written. Most finished "products" that we receive from our students fall into this category of "writing intended for an audience." Poetic writing is writing, such as most creative works, which "is intended for its own sake."
The key notion here is that the expressive function of writing enables students to rehearse not only what they know about a subject but also to find out what they still need to learn. The key to its use is to get students to write in their own language complex information you have presented to them in class or that they have read in a night's assignment.
As you might imagine, since prewriting activities are a kind of expressive writing, by asking students to do expressive writing in your classes, you are also introducing them to the writing process. Expressive writing--writing to learn--is an early phase for most writers in the writing of documents intended ultimately for an audience, such as essays, reports, term papers, and reviews.
Many of our colleagues are already using this kind of writing in their classes. In doing so, they have found a way to get students to do expressive writing on note cards, in journals, or simply in notebooks.
Building on the work of Emig and Britton, I would like to suggest some ways that writing to learn can be done with your classes without taking too much time away from your chief concern, covering material you must teach in your course.
I like to refer to three good and tested methods for getting students to write about class material as Orientation Writings, Mid-Lecture Writings, and Assimilative Writings. Some people might all call these writings microthemes.
These writings do not have to be collected or graded, though you might credit your students for having done them. Remember that Britton describes Expressive Writing, which is the kind of writing students do to learn, as "writing intended for the self" and as "writing closest to thinking." In fact, it's wise to tell students why they're engaged in this kind of writing and that it is entirely for them, as a means to make them better learners.
Orientation Writing involves students in preparing to add to their prior knowledge about a subject by reviewing what they already know about it. This is a wonderful place to begin teaching since, from some perspectives, learning occurs when students connect new information to old. Dr. Bob Christian has had students in his large biology classes describe some virus they have had, how they believe they got it, and how they treated it. This writing is done PRIOR to Dr. Christian's lecture on viruses. He is able to read over a hundred of these writings in half an hour since he gives students a very short time to write their responses and he has them write on 5X8 note cards rather than in bulky journals which no one would want to lug back to their offices, let alone home. By asking students to think in this way about the matter he is about to address, Dr. Christian requires students to pull from their bank of prior knowledge and past experiences. When he reads through the note cards, he finds out what they already know and, perhaps more importantly, what they don't know.
Dr. Jim Kirkland, from the English department, also uses "note card journals," has students write responses on note cards prior to coming to class. This way he knows he can call upon students to paraphrase their note cards as a way of beginning class discussion. Obviously, he might also have students work in small groups and share information from their note cards with each other. I've learned to use this method as Dr. Kirkland does and to pick up note cards whenever I want not only to check up on students to see that they've done their assignments, but also to take attendance without wasting time in class calling roll. This is a much better activity for the courses I teach and the way I teach them than a "pop quiz," for instance. Dr. Ken Wilburn from History has also made innovative use of journals, employing something akin to what Ann Berthoff calls split-entry journals: draw a line down the middle of a page and on one side paraphrase the reading assignment and on the other respond personally to what you've read. These kinds of journal entries might be more or less complex, depending on your goal.
Mid-lecture writing is a kind of writing to learn that can be done at any time during class. In this kind of writing, you might ask students to repeat as accurately as they can, but in their own words, what they recall from your lecture or class discussion. These writings too might be picked up and checked (though not necessarily graded) to see who is listening. Students might find out for themselves that they cannot accurately paraphrase what you have taught and must, therefore, ask questions of you to fill in the gaps of their learning. Some public school teachers I have worked with have found mid-lecture writing a useful technique for regaining order in their classrooms or refocusing their students on the task at hand.
Assimilative writing is usefully done at the end of a class; after you have covered whatever material you had in mind to cover on a given day. This kind of writing has a slightly different focus than the other two kinds discussed. In it, students are asked to connect that day's material to the larger and ongoing discussions taking place in your class. Or, you might ask students to predict, on the basis of that day's class, what might be covered in future classes. Mel Stanforth from art uses this kind of writing to help students in his introductory courses get a sense of what it means to exist in a community of artists.
Any of these kinds of writings might serve you well as opportunities to get students to make up a list of questions they might expect to see on an examination over the material covered that day in class. If you use multiple-choice tests, have students write multiple-choice questions. If you use something else, including short essay questions, have them write up one of those. The students are required, by doing this, to think through the major points (or to decide which of the points are most important) about a given subject. You will have a chance to take their questions and, perhaps, use them on an exam. Or, if students thought you emphasized something you didn't want to emphasize, you can straighten them out about what points made in class were most important to you.
