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Overview:In the spring of 1991 the faculty adopted the Academic Writing Program. This program affects English 101 in two principal ways. First, the program sets a minimum competency requirement: all Calvin students must receive at least a C in English 101 in order to graduate. Students who receive a grade lower than C must retake English 101. English 101 instructors should include this information in their syllabi, and, early in the semester, they should ensure that their students understand this requirement. When a student retakes a course at Calvin College, the most recent grade replaces the previous grade when the registrar calculates the student's grade point average. Only the most recent course counts toward graduation. The previous course and the student's grade for that course remain on the student's transcript. Second, every academic department has its own Departmental Writing Program. Because students will be writing in many courses outside of the English Department, individual English 101 instructors should conform to departmental standards (as outlined in this "Guide") for teaching English 101; teachers across the college will want to know what they can assume that their students have studied in English 101. Furthermore, the increased use of writing throughout the curriculum should encourage us to introduce English 101 students to the fact that different formats and styles of writing will be required in different disciplines. While we cannot be expected to teach, for example, business, scientific, or sociological writing in English 101, we can at least make students aware that they will encounter and be expected to produce significantly different kinds of writing in the various disciplines. What "writing across the curriculum is all about" says Elaine Maimon, is "the recognition that meaning changes as the stance of the reader and writer change from situation to situation." We should help our students to recognize and be prepared for the changes they will need to negotiate. |
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