Writing Skills Training for Engineering Students in Large Classes.docx
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WritingSkillsTrainingforEngineeringStudentsinLargeClasses
WritingSkillsTrainingforEngineeringStudentsinLargeClasses
INTRODUCTION
EmployersandteachershavelongbeenconcernedaboutstudentswhosepoorwrittenEnglishpreventsthemfromreachingtheirfullpotentialeitheratuniversityorintheirprofessionallives.Studentsareawareoftheirowndifficultyinwritingbuttheireffortstoimprovetheirwritingskillsareoftenthwartedbythegapbetweentheirownandtheirtutors'understandingofwhatthecriteriaforwritingassessmentshouldbe(Branthwaiteetal1980;Hounsell1987;Bensonetal1993).Itisthereforeimperativethatstudentsbeofferedhelpwithwritingandthatthecriteriaforwritingassessment,whichmaydifferfromonedepartmenttoanother,bemadeexplicit.Furthermore,therecentemphasisontheacquisitionofprofessionalskills(Blair1993;Keenan1993;Waldgrave1993)hasaddedurgencytotheneedtoteachwritingskillswithinspecialistsubjectareas.
Firstyearchemical,civil,electricalandmechanicalengineeringstudentsatEdinburghUniversityareofferedhelpwithwrittenEnglishinaProfessionalEngineeringmoduletaughtbymembersofallfourdepartments.Inthisway,writingskillscanbeintroducedintothecurriculuminawaywhichmakestheirrelevancecleartothestudents.
AlthoughthereareadvantagesinwritingskillsbeingtaughtbysubjectteachersratherthanEnglishspecialists,thesubjectteachersarefacedwithavastquantityofinformationonlanguageteaching,muchofitconflictingandnotallofitrelevanttothewritingrequirementsoftheirdiscipline.InprovidinginstructioninwritingskillstofirstyearengineeringstudentsatEdinburghUniversity,differenttheoriesoncompositionteachingandassessmentwereconsideredandmodifiedtotakeintoaccounttheparticularneedsofengineeringstudents,largeclassesandlimitedteachingtime.ThisdescriptionandevaluationofthewritingskillscomponentoftheProfessionalEngineeringmodulemaybehelpfultootherswhoarefacedwiththechallengeofteachingnon-Artsstudentsinlargeclasses.
TEACHINGWRITING
Alteredperceptionsoftheroleoflanguageaccountforaseriesofchangingpreoccupationsintheteachingofwriting(Nystrandetal1993).Sincetheprescriptive1950s,when"correct"spelling,punctuationandgrammarwererigourouslyenforced,thechangingfashionshavefocusedvariouslyonwriter,genreandreader.
Writer-orientedcompositionteachingflourishedinAmericainthe1970s.Itaimstoimprovewritingskillsthroughthepersonaldevelopmentofthewriter.Teachingisconcentratedonthewritingprocesswhich,sofarasacademicdiscourseisconcerned,entailsamovementfrompersonalandexpressivewritingtoexpository,analyticwritingthroughaprocessofdraftingandreviewingwhichenablesthestudenttomakesenseofthetopicheiswritingabout.Thismakesthewritingprocessavitalpartoflearning(White1985,1989).
Thestudyoflanguagesforspecificpurposesgainedgroundwithlinguistsinthemid1960sandbecameincreasinglyimportantinthenexttwodecades.(Halliday1973,1975;Sageretal1980)Suchlinguisticstudiesprovidedawealthofdataongenreorfunctionalvarieties.
Sinceafunctionalviewoflanguagemusttosomeextentmeasuresuccessintermsoftheeffectlanguagehasonthetargetaudienceorreader,itisnotsurprisingthatareader-orientedviewofwritinggainedground(Medway1991;BlackandMoore1994).
Thereisgeneralagreementthattheteachingofformalgrammarisnotusefulandmayevenbecounter-productive(White1989),buttherelativeimportanceofwriter,genreandreaderisstillhotlydebated.However,thepragmatistwillagreethateachapproachhasitsowncontributiontomake;mostofthe"Howto"booksdifferonlyintheemphasiswhichtheyplaceononeortheother.Ourtaskwastoextractwhatwasofmostvaluetofirstyearengineeringstudentsand,indoingso,wefoundthatwriter-centred,genre-centredandreader-centredlearningprovidedanswerstodifferentproblemsandachieveddifferent,butnecessarygoals.
TEACHINGWRITINGTOENGINEERS
TheWriters
Engineeringstudentsare,forthemostpart,lessskilledthantheircounterpartsintheArtsandSocialSciencefacultieswheremuchoftheresearchintostudentwritinghasbeencarriedout.Moststudiesonstudentwritingassumethatthestudentshavemasteredthebasicmechanicalskills.Thisassumptioncannotbemadeinthecaseofengineeringstudents.Althoughafewarealreadyskilledcommunicators,manyhaveaverypoorabilitytospellandpunctuate,farlesstoconstructalogicalargument.Therefore,teachingmustaddresstwoseparateareas.Ontheonehand,thestudentshavetobeintroducedtotheprocessofwritingasengineers.Withinitialguidance,acarefullychosenvarietyofwrittenassignmentsandsensitivefeedback,moststudentscanbeexpectedtomasterthestylisticdemandsofthedisciplineoverthefouryearsofthedegreecourse.Ontheotherhand,somestudentsneedtobebroughtuprapidlytothepointwherethisprocesscanbegin.Inthecontextofsubjectlearning,thewriter-centredapproachtakesprecedencesincethewriterisstillusingthewritingprocesstomakehisownsenseofthesubject.
TheGenres
Thegenresofwrittencourseworkaretraditionallytheessayandthelabreport.Despitemuchcriticismthattheessayisaveryartificialformofwritingandnota"real-world"task(Gibbs1992),itshouldberememberedthat,forthestudentandteacher,theuniversityistherealworld;theconventionsofacademicdiscoursehaveasmuchneedtobelearnedasanyotherformofwriting.Also,nowthatthedrawbacksofessayshavebeenidentified,betterwaysofsettingessaysarebeingdevisedandtheessayisrecognisedasawayofpromotingactivelearning(HounsellandMurray1992).Thelabreportisapracticalexerciseinwhichthestudentperformsthewriter-centredprocessofconvertinghispersonalexperienceintoimpersonalanalyticwriting.Italsoprovidesexperienceinwritingtoastrictformatandincombiningaccuracywithbrevity,bothverymuch"real-world"tasks.Inaddition,thestudentswereaskedtosubmit"LearningLogs"asawayofintroducingwritinginalessformalregister.Theseconsistedofshort(500word),non-technicalaccountsofaspectsofthecoursewhichhadappealedtothempersonallyasbeingofparticularimportanceorinterest.Itisaxiomaticthatgivingasimpleexplanationofacomplexsubjectrequiresdeepunderstandingofthesubject.Thestudentsthereforehadtoworkthroughawriter-centredlearningtaskbeforeprogressingtothereader-centredcommunicativephaseofwriting.Itwashopedthatundergoingtheseprocessesinshortpiecesoffocusedwritingwouldpreparethestudentsforessay-writing.
TheReaders
Readerexpectationsweremadeasclearaspossibletothestudentsthroughhandouts,lecturesandtheassessmentformat(SeeFig1).Inwritingthelearninglogsthestudentswereaskedtoimagineadifferentkindofreader.Itwassuggestedthattheytargetaschoolfriendoralocalnewspaperreadership.Theyhadtotakeintoaccounttheknowledgethattheirtargetreadermightbeexpectedtohave,whattechnicaltermswouldbeunacceptablewithoutexplanation,etc.Themarkerswereexpectedtoread"inrole",notonlyastheschoolfriendornewspaperreaderbutalsoasthefutureemployerasking"Isthiswritingacceptableinaprofessionalsetting?
"Inthecontextofcommunicativewriting,wherethewriteralreadyhasknowledgeandunderstandingofhissubjectandwishestoinformorpersuadethereader,areader-centredattitudetowritingistheobviouschoice.
TheLimits
Theobjectofanengineeringcourseistoproduceengineers,notwriters,andwhatisappropriatetoacompositionclassforcreativewritersmaybeacompletewasteoftimeforfirstyearengineers.Firstofall,theyaredifferentlymotivated:
ourstudentsneedtoseewritingasaprofessionalengineeringskill.Secondly,although,ingeneral,theirinitialskilllevelislower,thedemandsmadeontheirwritingskillsarenarrower.Althoughanelegantstyleisencouraged,literarycreativityandoriginalityarenotrequired.Theprimaryobjectiveinwritingistoproduceclear,effectivecommunication,freefromthepresentationalerrorswhichmightprejudicethereader.Finally,theteachingofwritingskillshastobemadeanintegralpartofacrowdedcurriculum,althoughthismustbedonewithoutitbeingswampedanddisappearingfromsight.
TEACHINGWRITINGINLARGECLASSES
Therangeofstudentabilityandthenatureofthesubjectaremostsuitedtosmallgroupteachingbut,withaclassof230students,thereisneitherenoughstaff,timenoraccommodation.Alternativestrategieshavetobesoughtwhichretain,asfaraspossible,suchadvantagesofteachinginsmallgroupsasindividualattention,activeparticipationonthepartofthestudentandthemaintenanceofahighprofileforthesubject.Thestrategiesavailableincludelectures,handouts,libraryfacilities,surgeryhoursandfeedbackonthecoursework.Feedbackisseenasthekeytoprovidingindividualattention,promotingactivelearningandgivingthetopiccontinuingprominence.Theeffectivenessofallthestrategieswasassessedbymeansofaquestionnaire,analysisofassessmentattachmentsandstudentinterviews.
LECTURES
Inspiteofthefactthatonlytwoandahalflecturesweredevotedtowritingskills,studentsfoundthemveryeffectiveasregardsplanningandpresentation.Onallaspectsofwriting,studentsfeltthattheyhadbeengivenvaluableguidelinesalongwhichtheycouldbegintoworkforthemselves.Inadditiontoinstructionon