Writing for learning: Increasing student writing and developing transferable skills at undergraduate level

The purpose of this project is to investigate from practical, pedagogical and scientific viewpoint how students of English can be taught “transferable skills” such as critical thinking skills, research and writing skills and organisational skills as part of a writing across the curriculum venture.

Writing across the curriculum is a movement that views writing instruction and learning as something that needs to take place throughout students’ entire careers, from entry to exit. The idea within the writing across the curriculum approach is that writing cannot be taught or learned in a short period of time, such as on a single writing course that is scheduled to last only a couple of months during the students' first term of studies, but that it involves a number of skills that need time to develop and mature in the appropriate contexts.

In addition to designated writing courses, students should be writing in multiple courses across the entire curriculum. Much of the the writing that they do on these courses should be viewed as part of an ongoing process that offers various opportunities and ways of practicing critical thinking skills and professional communication skills, of reflecting on and analyzing problems that are of relevance for the subject, of positioning oneself, and of simply organizing thought.

In this project, we investigate how establishing a link between the learning outcomes of designated writing courses and the other courses in the curriculum will improve student performance at the higher levels of study; special emphasis is on the role that generic skills play in this equation.