Symposium highlights views on writing, diversity

How does a university encourage high standards of academic literacy while embracing a diverse population of varied linguistic traditions?

That question was at the heart of the 2004 University Writing Center Symposium on Literacy. Held at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum on October 8, the symposium marked the inauguration of Texas A&M’s new writing-intensive course requirement for undergraduates. The symposium was held as part of Literacy Across Cultures, a two-day celebration of literacy with presentations by both local and visiting scholars.

“Why,” my colleagues often ask me, “haven’t my students learned about paragraphing (or argument or documentation or punctuation or any number of writing matters) before they get to my class?”

“Don’t they get that in freshman English (or high school or middle school)?” they ask with obvious frustration. “And since they didn’t learn it there, can’t they get it once and for all in the writing center?”

That’s our business. We take it seriously.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this:

You’re holding a conference with a student to discuss a draft of his next paper. As the meeting ends, you realize you were so busy helping the student clarify his main ideas that you never discussed the paper’s organizational problems or inadequate research.

Sociologist says learning to write critical for students

Katheryn Dietrich, a senior lecturer who has taught in the Department of Sociology since 1987, always has made writing a significant part of her courses. Having students write papers is, Dietrich believes, crucial to their understanding of her course material.

“In their tests, sometimes students just throw this stuff out that they’ve memorized and it’s not connected,” she observes. “They can sometimes just memorize material for the test and still not understand it. By writing a paper, they literally have to understand it.”

Your students might learn more.

You’d like to assign more writing in your classes, but how on earth would you grade it all? According to many experienced writing teachers, the answer is simple: don’t.

Or rather, don’t grade all of it.

Fall 2004 marked the inauguration of Texas A&M’s new writing-intensive course requirement for undergraduates. The courses that fulfill this requirement—referred to as W courses—are central to A&M’s increased emphasis on writing in all colleges. W courses must be approved by the W Course Advisory Committee, the Core Curriculum Council, and the Faculty Senate.