Integrating A Writing-Across-Curriculum Program Into A Self-Access Learning Center
Integrating A Writing-Across-Curriculum Program Into A Self-Access Learning Center
Abstract
In recent years, several writing centers have been set up in colleges and
universities of Taiwan. Almost at the same time, many self-access learning centers
are being designed and built on campuses all over the island. Whether these two
institutes function jointly or independently, dissatisfaction arises. In order to run
the self-access learning center more efficiently, the researcher proposes that by
integrating a writing-across-curriculum (WAC) program, a self-access learning
center can at least take care of its writing skill component and then further refines
the rest. The follow-ups can be achieved by implementing
speaking-across-curriculum, reading-across-curriculum, and even
foreign-language-across-curriculum, all of which are modeled after the original
writing-across-curriculum idea.
The basic ingredients for a WAC program include: (1) a campus-wide needs
assessment, (2) an institutional structure for leadership within the WAC program,
(3) carefully planned and funded initial workshops with faculty members across
academic fields, (4) on-going training and support for implementing WAC, and (5)
institutionalizing WAC by writing it into curricular and goal statements. In the
researcher’s current university, there has been a Multimedia English Learning
Center. He discusses the early success of and difficulties encountered by the center.
By introducing the WAC idea, he expects problems in hands can be overcome and
the original goal of the center, learner autonomy, can be best promoted.
INTRODUCTION
1
For a comprehensive list of self-access language learning centers, see 楊奕心(2007).
455
Jeng‐yih (Tim) Hsu
center and a self-access language learning center standing side by side within a
university. In some universities, the two institutes are operated jointly (e.g., National
Taiwan University, Fu Jen Catholic University, and National Sun Yat-Sen University)
while in others they are assigned under different departments and set to function
separately (e.g., National Tsing Hua Univery, Foo Yin University).
It is certainly too arbitrary to judge if one design outperforms the other due to the
fact that the budgets, faculty numbers, facilities, purposes of centers, and student
needs differ from one university to another. However, the above mentioned leading
universities which ambitiously embrace both self-access learning center and writing
center actually provide a model for the other colleges and universities in higher
education of Taiwan to re-evaluate their current situation (with one or both centers, or
even neither).
My university, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology,
was fortunate to set up its Multimedia English Learning Center (henceforth MELC)
with the grants from Ministry of Education (MOE) and the University, and will soon
celebrate its fourth anniversary. Ever since its origin, MELC was designed to support
the English courses required in non-English majors’ General Education credits (Lee &
Chen, 1999). With the increasing demands for adding a writing component to the
MELC from students and faculty (of business, finance and banking, engineering, and
electrical engineering and computer science colleges2), we need to actually start
thinking and evaluating if we need to physically set up a new writing center as an
adjunct or simply adjust the original design of MELC. In this paper, drawing partially
from the pioneer writing centers of Taiwanese universities and partially from the
experiences of American universities, I propose an idea: Writing-Across-Curriculum. I
believe it will help the MELC innovate and reform without undergoing dramatic
changes or physically constructing a new building to meet the needs of our current
students and the expectations of our faculty of business and engineering fields.
2
Beginning from the 2006/2007 academic year, there are five colleges in National Kaohsiung First University
of Science and Technology.
3
Currently, there are 5 levels of GE English courses after we add an “advanced” on top of the fourth level.
456
Integrating a Writing‐across‐curriculum Program into a Self‐access Learning Center
self-learning. On the one hand, the number of English faculty was limited. On the
other hand, an increasing number of studies had shown that learner autonomy can be
fostered and should be encouraged (Benson, 2001; Cotterall, 1996; Dickinson, 1995).
The aid from MOE and the University made possible the MELC. Built upon the idea
that our students will be better motivated and paced if they can proceed on their own,
the MELC opened its door in November 2003. Up to this year, teachers and students
from more than 100 high schools and colleges in Taiwan have visited us. It has been
the joint work of many administration, curriculum design, and foreign language
education professionals (Lee, Good, & Chen, 2004; Lee, Chen, & Good, 2007).
457
Jeng‐yih (Tim) Hsu
been obviously left out. Our goal to train students into a fluent English user can not be
achieved if one essential skill, writing, is always lagging behind. Besides, the needs
for providing academic English writing training are becoming severe. The MOE (in
press, 2006) is planning to request 70% of college graduates pass certain types of
‘exit’ English proficiency tests, such as GEPT, TOEFL, or IELTS, all of which
demand a speed writing test. At National Kaohsiung First University of Science and
Technology, in a faculty meeting (personal communication, 2007) at the College of
Foreign Languages, we decided to discuss the possibility of offering research writing
and business writing courses (i.e., both intensive English writing courses) to
undergraduates (and later graduates) of Marketing and Distribution Management
majors. With the limited faculty members from Department of English (i.e., presently
18 teachers), the time for MELC to step in and function to its maximum is arriving.
In real practices, WAC could differ depending on the joint needs of students,
faculty, administration, program goals, and resources. McLeod and Maimon (2000)
perhaps capture the original essence of a WAC program best by defining from two
viewpoints:
458
Integrating a Writing‐across‐curriculum Program into a Self‐access Learning Center
Putting WAC into a program of itemized list, common requirements for WAC
may include the followings:
459
Jeng‐yih (Tim) Hsu
and graduates). Our aim for the optimal student enrollment will be over 10,000. Once
we decide to add in a “writing” component (i.e., ‘learning to write’ and ‘writing to
learn’ according to the WAC concept) to every student’s curriculum, it is no longer
and almost impossible just the responsibility of the 30-plus part-time GE English
teachers and the 18 full-time faculty members in the Department of English. By
building a WAC-based self-access learning center, we can at least start trying to solve
the problems occurring at the very early stage and preparing ourselves for the
relatively complicated ones in the future. Physically, the Multimedia English Learning
Center is always standing there. It will, however, take the total devotion from the
entire faculty, Center for General Education, and the University if we hope to begin
test-running the new generation MELC underpinned by the WAC idea. Below I
elaborate how the three parties involved can help during the process of setting up a
WAC-based MELC.
460
Integrating a Writing‐across‐curriculum Program into a Self‐access Learning Center
Institutionalizing WAC: Writing WAC into the University Mission and Goal
Statements
It is hard enough whether we are introducing the WAC idea or integrating a WAC
program into our current self-access MELC. It is even harder if we attempt to
institutionalize WAC by writing it into the University mission and goal statements.
Nevertheless, it is a possible dream that we teachers and students at the National
Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology can have because we have had
a good basis to begin and are quite ahead of many others in the country towards the
establishment of a university rooted in WAC.
461
Jeng‐yih (Tim) Hsu
CONCLUSION
It is certainly not the intent of this position paper to force the University or the
entire EFL community to embrace the concept of WAC right away, given its failures
and unforeseen pitfalls unpredictable to us. WAC is a possible idea of curriculum
reform derived from the L1-based American education contexts. We are not certain
how it may help or where it will lead us. However, by introducing this WAC, I am
hoping to bring back perhaps the most important element of English fluency—writing,
the piece cut from the learners due to many unavoidable difficulties and limited
instructional manpower and sources when we first stared our MELC many years ago.
The road to construct the most efficient self-access language learning center is
harsh and as language teachers we all fight to create the best environment and
opportunities in order to nurture learner autonomy. The writing-across-curriculum
idea offers a new possibility and certainly will stir up many debates on whether it will
help us succeed in running a self-access learning center which fosters language
autonomy, but it is definitely worth exploring. (Below I provide a figure which helps
clarify how I propose to integrate the WAC program into the current MELC in our
University.)
Center for
General Education
at NKFUST
Figure 1. The layout of a WAC-based MELC at National Kaohsiung First University of Science
and Technology
462
Integrating a Writing‐across‐curriculum Program into a Self‐access Learning Center
REFERENCES
李美玲、陳英輝。(1999) 全校共同英語課程教學改進計畫。國立高雄第一科技
大學:行政管理研究計畫。
Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. London:
Longman.
Brewster, C., & Klump, J. (2004). Writing to learn, learning to write: Revisiting
writing across the curriculum in northwest secondary schools. Portland, Oregon:
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
Cheng, W. W. (2006). Learner perspectives of self-access in the Multimedia English
Learning Center at NKFUST. Unpublished master’s thesis, National Kaohsiung
First University of Science and Technology.
Cotterall, S. M. (1996). Towards an effective self-access center: A report for the
English Language Institute, Victoria University of Wellington. Newsletter. Retrieved
March 7, 2007, from The Hong Kong Association for Self-access Learning and Development Web
site: http://lc.ust.hk/HASALD/newsletter/newsletters.html
Dickinson, L. (1995). Autonomy and motivation in literature review. System, 23(2),
165-174.
Fulwiler, T., & Young, A. (Eds.). (1990). Programs that work: models and methods
for writing across the curriculum. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton-Cook.
Hung, Y. J. (2003). Taiwanese EFL college students’ experience of practicing pleasure
reading: Preference, barrier, and attitude. Unpublished master’s thesis, National
Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology.
Jennings, C. D., & Hunn, J. (2002). ‘Why do I have to take remedial English?’ A
collaborative model to solve a national problem. In T. C. Thompson (Ed.),
Teaching writing in high school and college: Conversations and collaborations
(pp. 182-200). Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Lee, M. L., Good, R. L., & Chen, R. S. (2004). Implementing innovations to promote learner
autonomy: The Multimedia English Learning Center at NKFUST. In 英語文教學與翻
譯研討會 [Conference on English Teaching and Translation] (pp. 153-170). National Pingtung
University of Science and Technology.
Lee, M. L., Chen, R. S., & Good, R. L. (2007). Fostering learner autonomy through a
Multimedia English Learning Center. Journal of Applied Foreign Languages, 6:
1~17. Kaohsiung, Taiwan: National Kaohsiung First University of Science and
Technology
Littlewood, W. T. (1999). Defining and developing autonomy in East Asian contexts.
Applied Linguistics, 20 (1), 71-94.
Maimon, E. P. (1980). Cinderella to Hercules: demythologizing writing across the
curriculum. Journal of Basic Writing, 2(4), 3-11.
Maimon, E. P., Nodine, B. F., Hearn, G. W., & Haney-Peritz, J. (1990). Beaver
College. In T. Fulwiler & A. Young (Eds.), Programs that work (pp. 137-161).
Portsmouth, NH: Boynton-Cook.
McLeod, S. H., and Marmon, E. P. (2000). Clearing the air: writing across the
curriculum myths and realities. College English, 62, 573-583.
National Writing Project & Nagin, C. (2003). Because writing matters: Improvising
student writing in our schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Reed, D. K. (2006). Time’s up: How to stop running out of time for writing across the
curriculum. Journal of Staff Development, 27(3), 36-42. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. EJ 752272)
463
Jeng‐yih (Tim) Hsu
Rubin, J., & Thompson, I. (1994). How to be a more successful language learner.
Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Stuckey, J. E. (2002). Reader refunds. In C. Benson & S. Christian (Eds.), Writing to
make a difference: Classroom projects for community change (pp. 215-228).
New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Multimedia Center for Foreign Languages, Teaching and Self-Access. National Tsing
Hua University. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
<http://www.hss.nthu.edu.tw/~fl/chi/intro.htm>
464