WriteForward: What have we learned about writing?

Last week’s Share the Wealth session provided a great opportunity to discuss what we have been discovering about writing during the first year of the WriteForward project and to open up the conversations about writing here in CEFL. There were six main facts that I wanted to share with the group which are currently influencing our project work.

1. As a field, we have not defined what writing is. Our definition is influenced by our values and shapes the way we instruct.
2. Writing is individually situated and writing instruction needs to be learner-centred.
3. Writing instruction, practice, and assessment need to be authentic. This means that the learner can see how it connects to his or her life outside of the classroom.
4. Writing assessment approaches have been limited by the use of psychometric theory and the definitions of valid and reliable constructs. We need to rethink these in the context of writing.
5. Using technology for writing is part of being a literate Canadian. This means technology needs to be integrated into instruction, practice, and assessment.
6. Writing instructors need more professional development to understand how to choose writing assessments, how to interpret them, and how to integrate them into the instructional plans.

As a group on Friday, we just made it through a discussion of the first three points. We spent time contemplating what counts as writing; we approached this question as instructors and as readers and found that context played a huge role in how we define writing. Overall, an attempt at communication and expressing thoughts on paper were two common ways of expressing how we define writing. We also took time to think about what we value in writing. Again, context was key - what we value in a learner’s written assignment may differ than what we value in a co-worker’s email. In general, we talked about valuing the expression of thought and understanding, being clear, providing information, appropriate grammar and spelling, and use of voice or showing personality.

Current research encourages us as writers and writing instructors to collaborate and define writing locally - in a way that makes sense in our programs and classes with our instructors and learners. There is the acknowledgement that one size does not fit all and that we need to address this in order to best help our learners improve their writing. I’m glad that we had this opportunity to start this conversation within our department on Friday, and hope that we will make time for further discussions in the future. Thanks to everyone who participated!

For more information, please see our project website: writeforward.ca

Writing Collection

What do your learners write? What do they want to write?

The WriteForward project is looking closely at these questions and we are asking for your help. In late February we will be creating a Writing Collection that will house examples of what learners are already writing and what they want to be able to write - anything from a grocery list, to job applications, to class assignments. We will use these samples to guide the development of our writing assessment framework and as inspiration to create test items.

Want to get involved?

We want to get as wide a variety of samples as possible. If you would like your Writing or English learners to participate, here is all it takes:

1. Set aside 15 minutes in one class on February 25th or 26th for Maureen to come in and explain to your learners what the collection is and why we are collecting writing samples. She will also explain how anyone who submits something can have his or her name entered in a draw to win a prize.
2. Remind your learners to bring in their samples and keep the collection box in your classroom until the end of the collection.
3. Set aside 10 minutes in class on March 1st for Maureen to return and collect the samples and the names of the learners who participated and want to be in the draw.

Interested?

Contact Maureen Stewart at mstewart@bowvalleycollege.ca. Any BVC learners are welcome and encouraged to participate.

For more information about the WriteForward project, please see our website: writeforward.ca.

WriteForward - project website launched

How do adults learn to write? How can assessment help their writing skills develop? How can English instructors use writing assessments as learning tools?

Those are a few of the questions we are asking as part of the new adult writing assessment initiative WriteForward. Over the course of the next couple of years we will be researching writing – from both instruction and assessment perspectives – and creating a new informal writing assessment resource for adults. This is the follow up and companion to ReadForward. This month we launched a project website which will serve as a hub for information on WriteForward: writeforward.ca. This will include reflections on the research we read, examples and explanations of the development of the WriteForward resource, and details about how other literacy practitioners can get involved along the way. We already know that research on writing and assessment for adult learners is rather limited, and we look forward to working with and adding to what is known.

Interested in more details of the project? See the Project Overview page. Want to get involved? See the Practitioner Involvement page.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @WriteForward.