Townsend, Martha. “Writing Across the Curriculum.” The Longman Sourcebook for Writing Program Administrators. New York: Pearson, Inc., 2008. 264-.
Townsend locates the seeds of WAC in London and the US in the 60s and 70s and notes a continued relationship between the two countries in its promoting of writing literacy as integral to all academic learning, not just English. She notes Kinneavy’s recognition of WAC as a possible “solution” to the perceived literacy crises we always seem to be experiencing, though economics challenges this estimation. The article lists WAC resources and notes that publications specific to WAC concerns are becoming more frequent, so too are job offers specific to WAC via MLA.
Curriculum design issues overlap among “faculty-, student-, and curriculum-“ concerns, according to Townsend (266). But she notes that “course integrity” often becomes an issue, as those assigned to teach writing in the disciplines might not have experience and training in the teaching of writing (particularly since this training is costly). Assessment, too, is identified as essential (271) to the mission of promoting quality WAC instruction; the article specifies questions administrators might ask when determining the value of instituting a WAC program.
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