Memo to the English Department

10 December 2012

Dear English Department Dean:

As an associate professor in the English department here at Pasadena City College, I am writing to appeal for integrated reading and writing courses in our division. There is this idea that reading and writing are separate skills and that our students should have learned reading in their K-12 education, but this is not representative of the diverse student population in our classrooms. In any one given composition class that I teach I have native speakers of English, non-native speakers and generation 1.5 students.  Many of these students have never been taught necessary academic level reading skills.  

I believe reading and writing should be integrated in our composition classes because the two skills foster one another. Before students can write academic level essays they must be taught how to read actively.  There are three elements to active reading and they are making inferences, anticipating what one is going to read and the art of selecting (van Woerkam 2012). These three aspects of approaching reading facilitate students in getting the most out of the texts they read. I argue that students should be taught active reading in their writing classes so they can then use the skills they have learned (that are fresh in their minds) on writing assignments in the same class. Students will then be able to transfer these skills into other courses where they write papers. I also strongly believe that students should be using heuristics such as annotating as they read texts.  When students write in the margins of the text they are reading we see reading and writing working together.  Reading good texts in a composition class also helps students generate ideas for their writing. In my experience when I am teaching independent writing classes my students’ papers lack originality and solid evidence to support their arguments. When reading is integrated in a composition course well written articles, essays and books can serve as templates for students to produce better writing.    

Students need to be taught that reading is a part of the writing process. According to Kutz, Groden and Zamel (1993), “…it is not through learning facts but through thinking, working with others, and having the opportunity and the need to perform certain intellectual operations and see things in new perspectives that people come to value their own knowledge and acquire new ways of thinking.” I propose to teach a course that is a kind of composition laboratory where students develop both reading and writing skills along with their peers. Having students read and discuss what they have learned amongst their fellow classmates will help them acknowledge different opinions and facilitate them in their writing. Please consider my proposal for integrated reading and writing courses in our department. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully

 

Michael C. Andrews

Associate Professor, English