W: A Focus on Learning

Writing-Intensive Learning (WIL) refers to a specific pedagogical approach that focuses on how students learn complex material. Through close attention to the ways language is used within particular contexts and settings, WIL helps clarify how, for example, effective writing in a history course differs from writing in an economics or archaeology course.

WIL concentrates first on how students learn, and second on how they can be taught to produce writing appropriate to different contexts. Thus WIL courses teach students not only the subject content, but also a set of transferable skills for writing and communicating effectively across academic, civic, and employment contexts. We summarize WIL as "writing to learn, and learning to write."

There are five criteria for SFU's WIL courses, called 'W' courses in the calendar. Using texts that are typical of the discipline and related professional contexts, W courses allow for what writer Peter Elbow calls 'low stakes' and 'high stakes' writing.

Low stakes writing is exploratory, reflective, and informal - it allows students to respond to complex material, identify what they understand and what still confuses them, test out ideas for further intellectual projects, and, not incidentally, become active, rather than passive learners. Low stakes writing activities also greatly benefit those teaching, as they can clarify misunderstandings early in the course and significantly affect students' chances to produce more interesting and better work.

High stakes writing is the more formal, polished writing we associate with university education. In high stakes writing activities, students learn the conventions of academic and professional communications - how to anticipate an audience, use appropriate forms of address, style and formality of language, employ evidence and argument correctly, etc. In W courses, students also often learn how to 'workshop' drafts with peers, and give themselves time to enhance and extend their critical thinking on a subject. Students in such courses report much stronger learning, and faculty report much higher quality student work. Weak students improve, and strong students do too!