Principles in writing instructions.

1. 12 Principles for the
Post-Secondary
Teaching of Writing
By: Fatin Syamimi binti Roslan
(A148952)
Based on the Conference on
College Composition and
Communication

2. Post-Secondary Writing
• Post-secondary writing is a crucial aspect in ensuring students’ success in
college and beyond
• Through writing courses, students gain rich experience analyzing
expectations for writing that that targets different audiences and practice
meeting with those expectations.
• This experience contribute in the success of writing in different contexts,
including academic, workplace, and community settings.

3. Principle 1
Sound writing instruction emphasizes the rhetorical
nature of writing.
• Writing is always shaped by a combination of the purposes and expectations
of writers and readers
• They should be able to pursue their purposes by consciously adapting their
writing both to the contexts in which it will be read and to the expectations,
knowledge, experiences, values, and beliefs of their readers.
• In practice, writers learn to identify what is possible and not possible in
diverse writing situations.
• Writing an email to a friend holds different possibilities for language and
form than writing a lab report for a biology class.

4. Principle 2
Sound writing instruction considers the needs
of real audiences
• Writers grow by envisioning and learning to write for a variety of audiences.
• In practice, this means that writers develop heightened sensitivities to the
needs of a range of audiences by considering expectations and values of
audiences.
• Instructors emphasize that qualities of good writing are situated within
genuine purposes, audiences, and contexts for writing.
• Teachers and peers can also act as authentic audiences as writers revise their
drafts.

5. Principle 3
Sound writing instruction recognizes writing as
a social act.
• Writing is a social act that whereby a writer’s purpose of writing is to convey the
meaning to the audience, the reader.
• Every document is addressed to at least one reader and reflects a writer’s
understanding of that reader’s social context, often including the values of that
reader.
• It is also a social act when writers collaborate with one another in stages, from
drafting to revision to publication.
• Instructors provide writers with opportunities for collaboration, including (but not
limited to) collaborative planning, drafting, reviewing, revising, and editing of
writing.

6. Principle 4
Sound writing instruction enables students to
analyze and practice with a variety of genres.
• Over time, genres typically evolve to meet the changing demands of those contexts.
• Majority of genres continue to adapt to changes in the purposes for which they are
used, the readers to whom they are addressed, the sources they use, and the contexts
in which they are written and read.
• In practice, this means that writers learn to analyze the formal and informal rules, or
conventions, associated with genres in order to create them.
• Instructors emphasize the nature of genres, textual conventions such as
organization, register, style, the use of evidence, visual design principles and visual
rhetorics.

7. Principle 5
Sound writing instruction recognizes writing
processes as iterative and complex
• Writers need time and feedback as they develop successful processes for
analyzing audience expectations, creating ideas, conducting research,
generating text, and revising and editing.
• Writing processes are iterative; writers receive feedback on multiple drafts to
create successful texts.
• Instructors emphasize the iterative nature of writing by providing
opportunities for students to develop processes for brainstorming, drafting,
revising, and editing.

8. Principle 6
Sound writing instruction depends upon frequent, timely,
and context-specific feedback to students from an
experienced postsecondary instructor
• Writers grow through supportive, specific feedback from experienced
postsecondary instructors who have experience teaching writing at the college level
• Instructors need to be provided time, space and tools to facilitate effective feedback
to students.
• Instructors emphasize that feedback is intended to guide writers’ development in
specific contexts, whether classes, workplaces, or community sites
• Instructors provide supportive, specific feedback to guide students’ writing and
development

9. Principle 7
Sound writing instruction emphasizes relationships
between writing and technologies
• Writing instructors have a role in helping students become aware of the range of
tools and possibilities available to them
• Writers learn about the potential that various technologies have for the production,
consumption, and distribution of forms of composed knowledge
• Instructors provide opportunities for students to gain access to and fluency with a
wide range of writing tools
• This includes helping writers understand that they are likely to encounter new tools
and new or evolving genres.

10. Principle 8
Sound writing instruction supports learning, engagement,
and critical thinking in courses across the curriculum
• Writers benefit from an intentional sequence of courses that deepens and extends
their growing knowledge of writing processes and repertoire of strategies.
• While first-year writing courses are critical for engaging students in the practice and
study of writing, writing abilities will grow only with focused attention throughout a
college career.
• Helping writers recognize the heuristic value of the act of writing will demonstrate
to them how powerful writing can be in learning.
• Instructors emphasize on activities and assignments to help students learn and
engage with information, ideas, and arguments within specific courses.

11. Principle 9
Sound writing instruction provides students with the
support necessary to achieve their goals
• Students come to postsecondary education with a wide range of writing,
reading, and critical analysis experiences
• In practice, this means that writers draw on diverse knowledge and practices
as they enter postsecondary learning
• Institutions emphasize that support is available for writers of varying abilities
and levels of experience by providing support necessary for students
including writing classes and resource centers; appropriate placement
procedures; and writing across the curriculum.

12. Principle 10
Sound writing instruction extends from a knowledge of theories
of writing
• Writing classes are intended to engage students in study of and practice with purposes,
audiences, and contexts for writing.
• Writers engage in supported analysis of these purposes, audiences, and contexts and
through supported practice with genres and texts that circulate within and among them.
• Instructors have ongoing access to and support for professional development, including
attendance at local, regional, or national Composition and Rhetoric conferences.
• Institutions should ensure that students from outside of the discipline of Composition
and Rhetoric receive sufficient grounding in and practice/mentoring with regard to
theories of writing.

13. Principle 11
Sound writing instruction is provided by instructors
with reasonable and equitable working conditions
• Instructors should be recognized as professionals regardless of their position and
granted the respect due to any contributing member of a department or program.
• This recognition should include the opportunity to participate in the governance of
the department, program, and college or university and the opportunity to
contribute to the development of writing curriculum and instruction.
• Instructors also require adequate resources—including (but not limited to) time,
reasonable class sizes, and physical surroundings

14. • Instructors should also earn a living wage and receive health coverage and other
benefits in line with the recommendations of professional organizations
• Institutions should ensure that no more than 20 students should be permitted in
any writing class. Ideally, classes should be limited to 15.
• No English faculty members should teach more than 60 writing students a term.
• Institutions should provide resources necessary to effective instruction, including
office space to meet with students individually, computers and network access, and
office technologies (such as photocopiers).
• Institusions should offer helpful efficiencies such as librarians, writing centers and
directors, and teaching and learning centers.

15. Principle 12
Sound writing instruction is assessed through a collaborative
effort that focuses on student learning within and beyond a
writing course
• Assessments involve discussions among all parties involved in the assessment
instructors, program directors or department chairs, and/or other administrators
about assessment questions, methods, processes, findings, and results.
• It also means that judgments about the quality of student writing are based on
writing from courses across the span of a curriculum
• Institutions emphasize that effectiveness is assessed collaboratively and in multiple
sites by using assessments that include direct evidence of both instructor practice
and student writing performance,

16. References
http://www.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/postsecondarywriting
http://ctell.uconn.edu/12_principles.htm