Effect of Type of Writing Instruction on Quality of Student Writing

摘要

At the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP), the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) curriculum provides writing instruction to students via two freshman composition courses and by requiring multiple writing assignments in virtually every CEE course. Many CEE courses provide students with some type of writing guidelines at the start of the semester, and nearly all of the faculty provide written feedback to the students. This instructional model is very time intensive for the CEE faculty members, given the large grading load. (Teaching assistants are not employed at UWP, a primarily-undergraduate institution.) Faculty have somewhat grudgingly born the load by assuming that this method was helping students write more effectively. However, recent survey results from employers of co-op students have not been favorable with regards to student writing ability. Moreover, one of the best indicators of student writing ability at UWP is their performance on their final Senior Design reports. These are almost uniformly poorly written, despite the large amount of writing they have completed and the extensive feedback they have obtained prior to enrolling in Senior Design. Thus, the department is realizing that the current model (provide guidelines and a large amount of practice) is not working.