The study links writing to undergraduate learning and development that shows three features of writing assignments are each positively associated with students’ engagement in approaches to learning and with their perceived gains in learning and development, according to an IU press release.
The three features are an interactive writing process, a meaning-making writing task and clear writing expectations.
Published in research in the teaching of English, the flagship journal of the National Council of Teachers of English, “The Contributions of Writing to Learning and Development: Results From a Large-Scale Multi-institutional Study” is the result of the collaboration between the Council of Writing Program Administrators and the National Survey of Student Engagement, according to the release.
Authors of the study are Paul Anderson of Elon University, Robert M. Gonyea of IU, Chris M. Anson of North Carolina State University and Charles Paine of the University of New Mexico.
Gonyea is currently an associate director of the Center for Postsecondary Research in the IU School of Education and a research and reporting coordinator for the student engagement survey.
Norbert Elliot, guest editor for Research in the Teaching of English, said the research demonstrates the importance of both cognitive and noncognitive domains in education in the release.
“For far too long, education has neglected the importance of knowledge transfer,” Elliot said in the release. “This new study demonstrates that shared learning and interactive processes are essential elements of the 21st-century knowledge and skills that students will need in both academic and workplace settings.”
The authors said they hope the study will provide guidance to instructors and institutions because the following features of writing assignments can be incorporated into assignments in any discipline, according to the release.
The study’s authors note that institutions, accreditors and other stakeholders can use the results to analyze the extent to which these enhancements to writing assignments are being used.
Alyson Malinger
