Writing Across the Curriculum (Wac)

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs became popular during the mid-1970s in response to a perceived deficiency in students' writing and thinking abilities. Such programs grew out of the conviction that children are capable of learning in a variety of creative ways, ways that go beyond traditional pedagogical methods of rote and lecture (Williams, 2000). Writing was seen as a method for encouraging that kind of learning, and a gradually developing body of research supported that idea, characterizing early WAC efforts (Williams, 2000). WAC programs in the K-12 grades advocate the incorporation of writing into all classes and all subject areas, as a means of helping students to improve their writing skills and to use writing as a learning tool. Programs have been established at public and private grammar schools and high schools all over the country.

WAC programs are premised on theories maintaining that writing is a valuable learning tool that can help students synthesize, analyze, and apply course content. They are based on the theory that if students write reactions in their own words, information is comprehended and retained more accurately. WAC programs utilize writing as a method of learning, using journals, logs, microthemes, and informal writing assignments. Additionally, since students write more frequently, their writing and written communication skills are improved. Writing in different disciplines is also a WAC approach that is based on the understanding that each subject has its own conventions of language use and style and that these conventions must be taught to students so that they might successfully participate in academic discourse (Williams, 2000). Research indicates that reports, article reviews, and research papers are the most commonly used assignments in writing in different subjects (Williams, 2000).

Literature Review

Research since the mid '70s suggests that in and many instances, writing can facilitate more creative, more active learning of course content. Several research studies have indicated that writing is a unique mode of learning; writing is unique, writing forces the integration or synthesis of ideas, writing promotes a detached critical perspective, and writing can be an introduction into a discourse community. Ackerman (1993) reviewed 36 studies of writing to learn, finding mixed results of writing on retention and understanding of the written-about material later. Bazerman (1982) concluded that students writing in different subjects need to understand how writing in a subject reflects thinking in that subject, how writing is problem solving, and how controlling one's own writing process relates to the kind of writing one produces. Emig (1977) also offers support for the theory that writing is a unique mode of learning. Results from this study found that although similar to talking, writing is different in that it is an artificial technology (Emig, 1977). Furthermore, writing and learning are multirepresentational, integrative, and self-rhythmed (Emig, 1977).

Research by Ernest (1985) provides an overview of an art classroom technique education in grade schools. She concludes that a workshop approach to teaching art in grade school takes away emphasis from producing natural art, placing more emphasis upon the thinking and learning necessary for creating art. Students are asked to write about what they learn, thus enabling the teacher to gain insight into their progress and the motivations behind their choices in subject and medium (Ernest, 1985). Farris & Smith (1992) also found that the use of writing in typical non-writing courses places a greater emphasis on thinking and learning. Writing-intensive courses help faculty to engage students' intellectual abilities beyond those required of the class lecture course pattern commonly found in larger schools (Farris & Smith, 1992).

Research also indicates that students need experience with the poetic, expressive, and transactional functions of writing to become good writers. However, studies indicate that most educational uses of writing are only transactional, not expressive (Freisinger, 1980). The lack of emphasis on expressive writing is related to the poor cognitive development of high school and college students (Freisinger, 1980). Research by Fulwiler (1980) supports the use of journals, as a form of expressive writing, in all subjects. Fulwiler indicates that expressive writing is not valued, but should be as a way of increasing the amount of writing that students do and exposing them to different forms of writing. Fulwiler also argues that students will value the importance of writing if it's valued in all the subjects outside of English.

A review of the relevant literature reveals that 7th -12th grade English, Social Studies, and Science teachers generally agreed on what kinds of writing activities each uses in his or her classroom. Most teachers report a need for cross-curricular coordination in teaching writing, but did not see any move in that direction occurring in their school systems, and did not feel qualified to lead such activity (Tighe & Koziol 1982). Tighe and Koziol (1982) conclude that there is a need to continue training teachers to teach writing, and that they need to be encouraged to use more prewriting and more expressive writing activities. Other research involving lower grades indicates that some types of writing assignments may not even need to be graded, or even read or reviewed by teachers. These types of writing assignments are meant to be used for their individual educational value.

Peer review and self-evaluation as well as holistic scoring provide positive examples of grading writing assignments. WAC programs that emphasizes correct English, or that force students to write only in prefabricated forms, ignore the idea of writing to learn. As a result, the use of expressive rather than transactional writing, is perhaps the better method to avoid burden of correction and restriction on form and content of writing. The academic case approach has been cited as a method of assignment design, in which case studies in a variety of subjects are used. In each case study, some facts are presented, rules given, and questions asked which demand interpretation or analysis. This forces the student to use and learn semantic concepts.

A review of the literature also indicates that writing centers are an effective WAC learning tool that can be implemented in the higher grades. According to Harris (1992), a writing center can help facilitate WAC projects by coordinating projects involving various interests in the university constituency.

Research by Law (2000) indicates that WAC programs generally involve the writing center at some level, and thus will bring faculty into closer and more frequent contact with the writing center. According to Law (2000), key areas that must be negotiated in working with faculty are 1) defining the relationship between the writing center and WAC; 2) shaping faculty attitudes and expectations concerning the writing center; 3) providing special training to faculty and students; 4) locating and training tutors to work with specific disciplines; 5) dealing with increased workload as a result of WAC; and 6) locating WAC resources for both the writing center and WAC faculty. Other successful strategies include linking writing assignments to course objectives, sequence assignments and carefully design assignments in advance.

Another factor affecting WAC programs are the challenges made in regard to their effectiveness and worth. This issue has been addressed frequently in research concerning WAS programs. Jones and Comprone (1993) define and suggest solutions to the major problems facing WAC programs. They claim that one reason that WAC is not permanent is its failure to coordinate the administrative, pedagogical, and research aspects of programs. Their solutions include centrally administering the program; linking faculty, grad students, and discipline-specific research across the curriculum with program development in WAC; and conducting interdisciplinary research into writing conventions and processes (Jones & Comprone, 1993).

Writing Application Project

Additional research studies have found that that teaching writing is teaching critical thinking. Berthoff (1981) indicated that observation is central to all subjects, and learning to observe is learning to think critically; learning terms of art is learning concepts of a field; and all subjects use rhetorical ideas of invention and organization. Donlan (1974) found during a survey of K-12 teachers' use of writing assignments that upper level grades get longer writing assignments. This lends support to the theory that teaching writing is often underrepresented in the lower and elementary grades. AK-12 writing application project will improve writing in the lower grades, thus improving overall learning scores.

Research has indicated that a typical writing application project must include a microtheme, or a writing assignment designed to generate a very short essay (Bean et.al., 1982). Microtheme assignments should have leverage, and should require a lot of thinking in proportion to a small amount of writing. Bean et.al. (1982) offered support for the use of microthemes, stating that such projects are easily graded, and promote the growth of specific types of thinking skills. Other requirements for a WAC program include topics such as the theoretical basis of writing-for-learning movement; how to design assignments to produce appropriate thinking skills; writing as process; and group and individual projects for faculty to develop useful assignments for their own courses.

Writing assignments should include journals, notes, essay and reports to fully develop students wiring abilities. Assignments must improve over time, and standard composition text can be used to develop a common vocabulary. While writing to demonstrate learning is the most common goal of any writing assignment, instructors may also wish to encourage assignments that involve writing to learn. These low-stakes assignments will allow students to explore ideas and issues that will help guide them in their learning. As indicated by Farris & Smith (1992), a WAC program can help establish criteria for writing-intensive courses, consult in the design of the courses, give incentives for teaching the courses, and provide grading support.

Since WAC programs deal with the basics of the composing process, and because teaching that process undergoes tremendous change, WAC programs are innovative by nature. Such programs challenges passive learning, routine training, and rigid disciplinarity (Williams, 2000). A detailed WAC program is one that would utilize the concepts of definition, classification, summary, comparison or contrast, analysis, and academic argument. Each successive skills requires repeating and reinforcing the earlier skills, and provides sample assignments which would require varying levels of each skill (Williams, 2000).

Several studies have pointed to the benefits of successful WAC programs both for students and their teachers. For students, these programs strengthen critical thinking skills and writing ability, while also promoting overall literacy and active participation in learning (Hughes-Weiner, 1989). For faculty members, the programs address such problems as disciplinary isolation and teacher burnout, while improving camaraderie, curricular coherence and institution-wide morale (Hughes-Weiner, 1989). Research indicates that most successful WAC programs begin with faculty workshops to convince teachers that students learn more about a subject by writing about it than by taking true-false or multiple-choice tests (Williams, 2000). Furthermore, successful training models have included multiweek summer seminars funded by soft money; semester- or year-long faculty seminars, with weekly or monthly meetings; and one- or two-day intensive workshops during a given term.

WAC program Techniques

Researchers have suggested the implementation of the following techniques in order to operate a successful WAC program. Such techniques include guiding student notetaking through outlines and study guides, requiring students to respond to lectures in ungraded journals, and making short writing assignments on course materials to give instructors the opportunity to respond to students' writing and provide constructive feedback. Additional techniques include giving essay tests to encourage spontaneous writing and give students experience in organizing material quickly and having students evaluate each others' written work. Moss and Holder (1981) recommend the use of collaborative learning strategies to prepare students to participate in the types of team projects they will encounter in their professional lives. Students work in small groups to complete course assignments, and provide each other with feedback on oral presentations, rough drafts, and final papers (Moss & Holder, 1981).

Research by Drummond (2002) outlines the best practices used in the implementation of WAC programs. According to Drummond, effective teachers offer ways for the learners to take an active role, for at least a portion of the class, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate strategies, and evaluating the outcomes, both internal and external. Drummond states that learner participation is a significant element of any WAC program. According to Drummond (2002), learner's readiness and willingness can be optimized by offering an invitation to step into the learning process and take responsibility for their own learning.

Although many different activities can be created to enable learning, the teacher's initial role is to set conditions to draw forth the past experience of each and every learner (Drummond, 2002). Initial questions may arise in the discussion that can guide subsequent experiences, and disagreements can illuminate for the teacher an initial focus for the class to study (Drummond, 2002). Next, teachers document the course of the learning experience, gathering notes, audio and video recordings, learner's initial products, and dialog. Finally, at the end of the experience, learners reflect together upon what has occurred for them over the duration of the work. This reflection socially constructs meta-cognitive understanding of learning as a human activity Drummond, 2002).