Much has been made of the fact that many students enter American universities without the writing skills they will need to succeed, and universities often address these skill deficiencies early through undergraduate coursework designed to develop these writing skills. How do students understand the expectations for writing in various contexts? How can first year writing courses better prepare students for their remaining years of post-secondary education?
These are just some of the questions this text seeks to address by reporting on the results of studies by 45 researchers from 28 institutions across five countries. The text is focused on the idea of writing transfer, the ability to extend ones writing skills from one context to another, or in this case, to also transfer skills gained in writing courses to other contexts at the university. It argues that the ability to transfer these skills has an important impact on students ultimate writing success at a university. The text begins by introducing five essential principles for fostering writing transfer in higher education, and the remaining chapters are organized into two groups.
Taken in its entirety, Understanding Writing Transfer, offers a variety of tools and ideas for those looking to encourage writing transfer for university students. [ It] avoids academic jargon throughout, it would be useful to any individual seeking guidance on how to best support post-secondary students writing. It is a handbook-like guide and a useful springboard for delving into issues of writing transfer in higher education.
Teachers College Record
I felt inspired as I read this book, finding myself scribbling in the margins of nearly every chapter the names of campus colleagues who will want to read and discuss this work. Not only does Understanding Writing Transfer include a wealth of superb empirical research, it also offers a capacious vision of the importance of writing transfer within the future of higher education. These essays invite readers to think critically about their own pedagogical practices (on personal and institutional levels) and to reimagine the possibilities for intentional, integrative teaching and learning.
Rebecca Nowacek, Associate Professor, and Director of the Norman H. Ott Memorial Writing Center
Marquette University
Understanding Writing Transfer can be an important tool in helping colleges and universities develop a clearer vision for their goals for student writing not only in the first year, but also across the entire span of undergraduate education. While those goals may differ to some degree by institutional type, the book itself offers a template for any campus to use in cross-campus conversations about writing in the 21st century. These conversations could be designed to develop institution-wide goals for writing, to address issues of technology, to determine appropriate strategies for writing instruction for non-native English speakers, to expose campus employees to existing writing resources on campus, and to explore the importance of connecting writing to high-impact practices such as undergraduate research, study abroad or away, learning communities, internships, and of course, the first-year seminar. Cross-campus conversations can also be a site for sharing what worksthe strategies instructors across disciplines are using to help students understand appropriate writing in specific disciplinary and professional contexts. This book offers a number of such strategies that can be valuable to readers.
Betsy O. Barefoot and John N. Gardner
John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education
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