Writing to learn and learning to write. How can staff help university students develop effective writing skills?

Linda Devereux, Mary Macken-Horarik, Christine Trimingham-Jack, Kate Wilson

    Research output: A Conference proceeding or a Chapter in BookConference contributionpeer-review

    Abstract

    The writing that students are required to undertake in a tertiary setting is often very different to writing tasks that they have done before, and for some students learning how to write acceptably at university is a challenge. In addition, tertiary teaching staff may underestimate the difficulty such students experience understanding and responding to the varied assessment tasks that they set. This paper reports on a study of student acquisition of academic writing skills during the four years of a Bachelor of Education course. Students' views about their emerging tertiary literacy skills are examined, and recommendations are made for teaching staff based on strategies that students felt assisted them to become more proficient writers. We argue that students benefit from written assignments that offer a high degree of challenge that will assist them in developing intellectual rigour in the discipline, but that they require adequate scaffolding if they are to develop appropr iate tertiary literacy skills that enable them to meet these challenges. Such scaffolding includes constructive feedback, explicit explanation of task requirements and multiple sources of support.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the International Research Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education 2006
    EditorsP Jeffery
    Place of PublicationAustralia
    PublisherAustralian Association for Research in Education
    Pages1-24
    Number of pages24
    Publication statusPublished - 2006
    EventAARE 2006 International Education Research Conference, Adelaide, Engaging Pedagogies - Adelaide, Australia
    Duration: 26 Nov 200630 Nov 2006

    Publication series

    NameAARE conference proceedings
    PublisherAustralian Association for Research in Education
    ISSN (Electronic)1324-9320

    Conference

    ConferenceAARE 2006 International Education Research Conference, Adelaide, Engaging Pedagogies
    Country/TerritoryAustralia
    CityAdelaide
    Period26/11/0630/11/06

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