I first looked at “Teaching Writing across the Curriculum” by Art Young. Although this article was extremely lengthy I was able to soak up the information I found very useful. The article was written for Professors that provided how to use writing across the curriculum in your classroom. It spoke about WAC theories and how to practice it. What I liked about this article was that Young did not gear it towards just English department teachers, but teachers of all subjects.
Young had said “One way to think about the classroom uses of writing is to consider writing as a valuable tool for learning as well as for communication” (9). This quote stood out for me because I agree that writing is a tool of communication. Teachers of all subjects need to realize that by understanding their students, assessing their students and having their students convey their thoughts to the teacher can all be taken in forms of writing. Writing is a huge form of communication because it opens doors for students to say what they want on paper instead person to person which can be more confrontational. As a student myself I tend to show my real self and language through the papers I am told to right rather then if I were to have a one on one conversation with my teacher. As a teacher I tend to see my students show more of their personalities through their writing.
Young had stated that the relationship between writing and communication is important, “these processes are interrelated and overlapping” (12). Writing and communication goes hand in hand.
This also goes into the point that the author Berkenkotteretal was trying to make. He had thought that the linguistics of the classroom was extremely important and can affect someone’s writing. Linguistics as we know is the study and science of language. So he also correlates language (communication) to writing.
In the “Non Designs Design Book” we see chapter 7 giving us tips on how to create and design ways that can convey the information we want to give to people (ex: business cards, flyers, newsletters, brochures, postcards, newspaper ads, etc…) These to me are forms of communication through writing.
I came up with the conclusion that writing and communication goes hand in hand with each other. Which ever comes first the other one always seem to follow. They both aid to help each other; can you agree with me on this statement?
--Rosemarie
