One-Page Brief: WMU CAS Writing Requirement in Context
WMU’s current Liberal Education Curriculum (LEC) requirement
Baccalaureate-Level Writing (3-4 credits)
Round 1 survey results
In the previous survey, 6 out of 8 CAS units and 33 out of 43 individual faculty members supported CAS maintaining the requirement that students take a baccalaureate level writing course as a credit-bearing course.
In the comments section, many also independently suggested that additional coursework in writing should be required beyond BLWR and that such coursework should focus on writing skills specifically.
What experts say
- According to the National Council of Teachers of English research brief on first-year writing, “As education policy increasingly focuses on notions of career and college readiness, research shows us that common practices in first-year college writing classes reinforce the intellectual habits and behaviors needed for success in postsecondary studies or the workplace.”
- The definitive statement on college writing comes from the Conference on College Composition and Communication, which is the largest professional organization in the U.S. representing two- and four-year college writing instruction. Their position statement, entitled “Principles for the Postsecondary Teaching of Writing,” compiles empirical research in ELA as well as existing statements developed by the field’s major organizations. Guiding principles of this definitive document include the following:
- Sound writing instruction supports learning, engagement and critical thinking in courses across the curriculum.
- Writers benefit from an intentional sequence of courses that deepens and extends their growing knowledge of writing processes and repertoire of strategies.
- Institutions emphasize that support is available for writers of varying abilities and levels of experience by providing … writing across the curriculum or other programs that help faculty identify expectations of and offer instruction in writing in courses beyond the first year and/or writing program.
- Judgments about the quality of student writing should be based on writing from courses across the span of a curriculum.
Market analysis
WMU’s Office of Institutional Research has identified seven universities as close approximations to WMU in size and designation (= “peer institutions”) that also house chapters of PBK. The Colleges of Arts and Sciences at two of these peer universities have greater writing requirements than does the WMU LEC:
- SUNY Binghamton: 4 to 5 composition, writing, or combined writing courses
- UNC Greensboro: 4 writing courses
The Colleges of Arts and Sciences at the following universities do not have specific writing requirements; however, the university-wide writing requirements at these institutions are greater than those of WMU’s LEC:
- Ohio University: 3 writing courses
- Oklahoma State University: 3 writing courses
- Kent State: 2 writing courses
- University of Alabama: 2 writing courses
- University of North Dakota: 2 writing courses