What a Psychologist Learned by Teaching Writing : Improving Technique and Assessment / Dana S. Dunn.

At Moravian College, the Communication course is an interdisciplinary introduction to the writing process, designed to help freshmen develop strategies for solving problems at each stage of writing. The course is unique in that it is not meant to be taught exclusively by members of the English department and is taught in close alliance with another course in the core curriculum. Students are required to write regularly, using techniques including freewriting, focused freewriting, descriptive responding, and descriptive outlines. Other instructional techniques include small group work and peer tutoring. Students' writing is assessed by both the English and non-English instructors, and informally evaluated by their peers. These instructional and assessment techniques are also appropriate for undergraduate psychology courses. For example, freewriting is a way of teaching students to generate ideas for course papers and an effective means of promoting class discussions. Students enrolled in introductory and intermediate level psychology classes can benefit from sharing papers and research ideas and from subsequent peer commentary. While most psychology professors favor holistic grading on writing assignments in lieu of detailed comments, it is important to provide comments on both style and content that give the writer direction for his/her future work. Undergraduate students must learn that writing is not a mechanical end in itself, but a process dependent upon related skills. (AC)

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.