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WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS Graduates’ and students’ comments “When you are writing at uni you tend to write in a format that lecturers expect. But when you get out in the workforce you are actually writing for a different kind of population and you can’t approach it [as if] you are writing a prac or an assignment.” (Griffith Graduate, 2002) “My written communication skills are constantly improving at uni because I receive feedback on my written assignments, which helps me to make improvements on my writing style. I find that my writing skills are very useful in my part-time work because I have to write lots of memos to my manager to express all sorts of details about the shift. I am able to write these in a concise and informative manner, which is appreciated by my manager.” (Griffith student) “In the courses I’ve done, we’ve been taught to always ask ourselves: ‘From what point of view am I writing this? Who is going to read this?’ ” (Griffith student) Research findings “Literacy skills and written business communication skills were rated as being very important by the employers participating in an AC Nielsen research project conducted in Australia in 1999. It was found that job applicants who had poor skills in this area did not fare well when seeking positions.” AC Nielsen Research Services. (1999). Employer Satisfaction with Graduate Skills. Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Canberra: AGPS. http://www.dest.gov.au/archive/highered/eippubs/eip99-7/eip99_7pdf.pdf Employers, graduates and students “Effectively, we are looking for people who can write in almost a bullet-point form. We are no longer really looking for people who can write wonderfully flowing twenty-five page documents, which take two hours to read.” Employer interviewed in: Harvey, L., Moon, S., and Geall, V. (1997). Graduates’ Work: Organisational Change and Student Attributes. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 2 March, 2002: http://www.uce.ac.uk/crq/publications/gw/gwcon.html “Employers want graduates who can write for a variety of audiences. Graduates may be experienced in producing academic texts such as essays, laboratory reports and dissertations, but they are not always proficient in other forms of written communication, especially business communication.” Employer interviewed in: Harvey, L., Moon, S., and Geall, V. (1997). Graduates’ Work: Organisational Change and Student Attributes. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 2 March, 2002: http://www.uce.ac.uk/crq/publications/gw/gwcon.html 4
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS Teaching tips—How to develop your students’ written communication skills How to develop students’ writing skills Make writing enjoyable: • involve students in small group writing tasks in which everyone ‘has a voice,’ and ask them to analyse the differences in writing styles; • ask students to write for different audiences presenting similar material on the same topic, and ask them to analyse the differences; • invite guest lecturers to talk about writing in their fields or professions; and • use peer editing processes for formative assessment practice. Do lots of writing: • introduce short writing tasks into lectures and tutorials and ask students to exchange work to check for clarity and understanding; • check students’ lecture notes from time to time to see whether they are getting the point; • ask students to write down their questions at the end of every lecture and collect – then answer the questions at the next lecture; • encourage students to write for ‘the hostile reader’–an imaginary person who will contest everything they say in their writing–this will help them consider and counter ideas from different perspectives; and • set writing assignments for the ‘real’ world and involve ‘real’ professionals in giving feedback on some sample assignments. Vary the writing tasks: • introduce assignments that require students to write up interviews with practising professionals, or document field trips; • use reflective journals or diaries – ask students to use them as thinking aids (even if you don’t assess them, students learn how to analyse their own thoughts and experiences); • instead of formal essays, ask students to prepare an article for a disciplinary journal, using the journal’s formatting and referencing requirements; and • ask students to prepare written agendas and notes of meetings in teamwork projects. Share examples of good student writing: • with students’ permission, circulate blind copies of good student writing and use peer review to analyse why it is good; and • involve students in setting criteria for written assignments. Some relevant material is available at: Teaching Students to Write Argumentative Essays: http://www.eslplanet.com/teachertools/argueweb/frntpage.htm Learning how to write more clearly: http://learnhowtowrite.com/ Teaching tips 5
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