Many nontraditional
students who test into
college preparatory writing programs, struggle with writing basics. This is crucial
to acknowledge in light of the projected 19.8 million students enrolling for college
level courses this year (Department of Ed., 2011). Personal experience and
consideration of researched statistics confirm that a majority of these
students are non-traditional students, enrolled in preparatory writing classes,
and for whom it is likely to have been a long time since they were required to
write formally. With focus on specific career goals of this growing student population,
an approach to training in college writing requires reflection on factors such
as previous education, work history, and students attitude toward writing instruction.
Special care given to instructional design
adapts the traditional preparatory writing training to fit the busy adult
lifestyles and to make content meaningful for career-minded students of
disparate educational and professional backgrounds. Research and teaching
experience in adult education demonstrate that a significant percentage
of nontraditional students fear the writing process, are reluctant to see value
in covering the basics of grammar, and do not understand why they need writing
training.
This shows that the needs
of these students is met by helping them understand how their degree goals benefit
from increased writing skill and aids them with writing requirements throughout
their specific program and in their subsequent careers’.
Student Need
The needs of nontraditional students are
diverse and pose new demands on postsecondary institutions and the curriculum
used for preparatory writing. A number of documented cases show how improving
grammar and use for nontraditional students must shift to focus on use; thus,
indicating that that traditional methodology currently employed for preparatory
writing classes must defer from endless grammar worksheets and encourage
students to write.
