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How Should Writing Be Taught?

By Ryan Costanza

Did you feel lost when you had to transition from writing in high school

to writing in college or other real-world situations? You are not alone.

The traditional methods of writing instruction have been questioned for

years, but the age-old question still remains, how can the methods be

changed or even replaced. Testing new teaching methods is always risky

because it jeopardizes vital years of education for students who happen

to be the test subject.

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Learning in Early Years

I’m sure most of you reading this had to write numerous essays in the five paragraph format.

Whether it be from middle school or high school or both, the five paragraph essay format has been a

staple in American writing education for many years. Being born in the US, I went through the typical

American public school system and I always questioned whether or not the methods in which we were

taught writing were the most effective. Personally, I always wondered why it was decided that a singular

essay genre would dominate the development of adolescent writers. I decided to listen in on a research

conversation between writing and teaching scholars who are seeking to find the most effective strategies

for teaching writing. That being said, these researchers have begun to question not only the efficacy of the

five paragraph essay, but the entire style of teaching conventional writing. Many of these researchers

favor the idea of genre/discipline-based writing instruction because they believe that it will better prepare

students for all of the different styles of writing they will need to create in college and beyond. Just think

about it: When was the last time you wrote a five paragraph essay outside of class? It would seem much

more practical for high schoolers or even middle schoolers to be taught how to understand numerous

genres and learn transferable skills that they can apply to whatever discipline they go into later in life.

Can Students-Led Teaching be Beneficial?

Students leading teaching? That probably sounds like a recipe for disaster. However, when done

under the guidance of teachers, this strategy has a lot of potential. The idea behind students teaching

themselves is having them engage in activities that force them to think for themselves.

A study was conducted at the University of Missouri-Rolla that reflected how college students

generally think there are significant differences between writing from different disciplines. They believe

that writing in the sciences is more based upon the presentation of data and technical language and writing

in the humanities emphasizes argumentation and critical analysis. However, despite this, they agree that

there is some common ground between the two such as the need for organization, clarity, and concision.

Based upon the findings of this survey, Linda S. Bergmann and Janet Zeppernick believe that if teachers
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work off said commonalities, the students can learn how to transfer their writing skills across multiple

disciplines. They suggest a student-based form of instruction where the students are given assignments

that force them to reflect on their writing and engage in writing activities that emphasize the

commonalities of writing between different disciplines.

Hendrickson and Mueller discuss a similar topic but propose a slightly different solution. Their

whole basis is that students need to determine for themselves what it means to write across different

disciplines. There are so many genres and even more genre specific features that these authors believe it is

nonsensical to make students excellent at specific genres while ignoring the numerous others that they

may need. They, however, present an alternative approach that emphasizes the importance of

collaboration between students. If students are allowed to share dialogue and lead discussions, the authors

expect that they will develop self-understanding skills that will greatly benefit them when they attempt to

write in different disciplines. They suggest collaborative writing projects and student-led discussions

about writing practices with the intention of getting the students to view writing as a social practice that

involves collaboration and discussion.

Bergmann and Hendrickson both delve into the idea that students should learn about how to

transfer writing skills between different contexts to benefit them in their careers. Bergmann strongly

suggests that teachers guide students in this endeavor by giving them assignments that allow them to learn

about writing across different disciplines. Hendrickson agrees with Bergmann’s premise but argues that

the role of the student should be greatly expanded. He really stresses that giving students agency and

ownership through peer review and collaboration is the best way to promote a more nuanced

understanding of what it means to write effectively.

Genre Over Convention: What Can The Teacher Do?

Writing in high school, as I said before, is very formulaic. You learn just a few genres of writing

and you repeat them numerous times until you master them. I know for myself that I came out of high

school able to write a five paragraph essay extremely well but having little to no idea how to write in any
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other rhetorical context. Was this due to flaws in the way the class is structured or the teacher’s personal

methods?

Joanne Addison feels quite strongly that teachers play a significant role in shaping writing

instruction. She believes that the way teachers approach teaching writing can be extremely varied and is

criminally underlooked for how important it is. Placing emphasis on the development of genre-based

writing skills versus the content of writing assignments can be the difference that determines students'

success with writing. She also acknowledges that the teacher is especially important for underrepresented

groups such as second language students. Today, many students enter college without the proper skills to

allow them to succeed in their coursework. Addison and McGee stated that further research needed to be

done urgently in order to help out a generation of students.

Approximately eight years later, Jiwon Han and Phil Hiver answered their call. They analyzed a

study that was done on second language students and how genre-based writing instruction affects

numerous psychological factors. The authors stress the importance of genre-based writing instruction and

viewing writing as a social practice, because it allows students to understand how to use different genres

for different communicative purposes. The research found that when teachers place emphasis on the

learning genre, students experience higher levels of motivation, self-efficacy, and they tend to outperform

those who receive traditional writing instruction.

Victor Villanvuela as well as Addison both bring perspective as to how writing instruction has

changed over time. Addison highlights the shift in the goals of writing instruction in high school and

college. She recognizes that the traditional approach to writing instruction that is focused on grammar and

correctness is shifting to a more process-oriented approach that views writing as a tool for learning and

critical thinking. Villanvuela agrees with Addison and also stresses the importance of teaching students

about digital writing as we shift into a more technological age. As digital writing becomes more and more

prevalent in today’s society, people are gonna need those skills, so Villanvuela argues that Addison’s idea

of genre-based instruction should extend to the digital arena.

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Conclusion

Through listening in on this conversation, I learned a lot about the research that has been done on

writing instruction and conversely, the research that needs to be done in the future. Although the authors

proposed different ways to solve the issue of properly teaching writing to students, it was generally agreed

upon that the problem stemmed from the traditional emphasis on specific genres. Every author prefers

that students be taught with emphasis on genre and discipline-transferable skills rather than content or

traditional writing skills. The concept of genre is constantly evolving and expanding as more platforms

and contexts for writing arise with new technology, and that has led me to understand the call for genre

based writing instruction. In fact I believe that in order to keep up with technological evolution, genre

based writing instruction is inherently demanded because learning transferable skills is so important.

These concepts will always require more research and discussion to expand on the conversation and keep

getting closer to a more accurate answer.

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Works Cited

Addison, Joanne, and Sharon James McGee. “Writing in High School/Writing in College:

Research Trends and Future Directions.” College Composition and Communication, vol.

62, no. 1, 2010, pp. 147–179, www.jstor.org/stable/27917889?sid=primo&seq=6 .

Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.

Bergmann, Linda, and Janet Zepernick. “Disciplinarity and Transfer: Students’ Perceptions of

Learning to Write”. 2007,

docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=writinglabpubs. Accessed

25 Feb. 2023.

Han, Jiwon, and Phil Hiver. “Genre-Based L2 Writing Instruction and Writing-Specific

Psychological Factors: The Dynamics of Change.” Journal of Second Language Writing,

vol. 40, June 2018, pp. 44–59, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2018.03.001. Accessed 20

Aug. 2019.

Hendrickson, Brian, and Genevieve Garcia de Mueller. “Inviting Students to Determine for

Themselves What It Means to Write across the Disciplines.” The WAC Journal, vol. 27,

no. 1, 2016, pp. 74–92, https://doi.org/10.37514/wac-j.2016.27.1.05. Accessed 23 Jan.

2022.

Villanueva, Jr., Victor, and Zarah C. Moeggenberg. “A Tale of Two Generations: How We Were

Taught, and What We Learned (or Not).” Journal of Basic Writing, vol. 37, no. 1, 2018,

pp. 35–55, https://doi.org/10.37514/jbw-j.2018.37.1.03. Accessed 16 June 2021.