Why Writing Matters: Helping Students Rethink the Value of English and Writing Studies

 Considering Data to Build the Project’s Foundation

We took from this not necessarily each of the specific skills detailed but the fact that employers are not primarily seeking students with degrees that directly align with a specific job title or vocational track. Evidence from the wealth of qualitative and quantitative research on this and related topics was available to support our somewhat simple arguments that writing matters and that English studies can help students develop sought-after skills and abilities. However, what we fell into at the start of this project was the tendency to lean on a familiar and somewhat basic set of deductive arguments. Below is one such example:

First Premise: Employers do not care what your major is; they care that you can write.

Second Premise: An English program will teach you how to write.

Conclusion: Therefore, you should pursue an English degree to be more appealing to employers.

This argumentative approach was not sufficiently motivating students, as evidenced by the continuing decline in enrollment in English degree programs. Perhaps the number of students pursuing a communications degree is growing because students assume it is more applicable to a professional setting or provides more practical skills than what is perceived as a vague, traditional English degree.

In considering how knowledge is generated, it was our goal to develop materials to help students understand the value and opportunities in English and writing studies. But as we reflected on our own experiences in college and professional settings outside of universities, we were prompted to analyze what brought us to English studies.

 

The Role of Reflection in Shaping Research Questions

While we worked to find ways to develop arguments that would prompt students to rethink the value of writing and English studies programs, we repeatedly found ourselves reflecting upon facets of our personal and professional lives that informed the selection of our academic paths. We sensed that our experiences might provide insights that would be valuable in addition to the critical thinking and pedagogical practices we wanted to explore. Using an autoethnographic approach, we created narratives that unveiled the primary influences on our individual academic decisions.

Intersections of Critical Thinking and Critical Pedagogy

Creating autoethnographic narratives about our experiences were exercises in critical thinking. We recognized that we needed to employ an approach that emphasized motivating students to engage with the information shared and then rethink the range of academic degree options that could support their professional goals. The critical thinking about our academic and professional paths occurred when we were intrinsically motivated to consider our options with knowledge and data we discovered.

Considering this now, we both see how power, cultural, and political structures informed and shaped our educational decisions at the start of our undergraduate careers. We were not interested in courses with clear vocational structures; we wanted the freedom to make connections between coursework and the work we explored outside of our classrooms. This is what happens when critical pedagogy joins the learning process.

The very practice of teaching involves learning on the part of those we are teaching, as well as learning, or relearning, on the part of those who teach. I can experience others in a real learning situation where the object of knowledge becomes a critical agent, rather than a possession. This kind of situation mediates the critical agent, the educators and the learners. It is impossible to experience and appreciate someone in this concrete relationship if the educator and learner do not know about one another, if they do not teach one another. (Paulo Freire; 1985. Explained in an interview titled “Rethinking Critical Pedagogy: Dialogue with Paulo Freire”)

The application of Freire’s work in critical pedagogy may seem illogical for efforts to educate students about careers and professional opportunities; however, we actually see rich opportunities for his theories to empower students to push aside dominant narratives measuring the value of a college education by the job title assigned upon graduation.

 

Looking to the Future and Project Development

Components of the class presentations include the following elements:

· Large group discussion highlighting key data from current research about the abilities most desired by employers, with a focus primarily on writing and learning outcomes from composition and English studies courses (10 minutes);

· Small group conversations where students discuss the specific career paths they would like to pursue and both share and discover the kinds of writing needed in career paths identified (10 minutes);

· Small group interactions with a facilitator, focused on what students perceive about writing, followed by collaboratively generating questions about what students might need to know about the skills for their desired careers (10 minutes);

· Large group presentation that invites students to share knowledge and questions discovered through the small group exercises, with time for student led queries and thoughts (20 minutes).

Resources for further research and conversation are shared with students, including a signup sheet for departmental outreach materials at the end of the session. The goal is to challenge students to see themselves in their lives beyond college and help them prepare for the journeys by encouraging them to pursue needed knowledge and information as well as a deeper sense of self-awareness.