The following statement comes from the writing program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Because it provides such a clear statement of the assumptions on which WAC programs are based, it is reproduced verbatim here:
- All meaningful language use—speaking, reading, writing—takes place within a language community and is understood and learned only within the particular language community.
- The forms of “good” language use vary from one language community to another. Standards of good writing vary from culture to culture and, in a university, from discipline to discipline.
- Students improve as writers through practice, particularly when provided with instruction and guidance while they are working on pieces of writing within the context of a specific discipline.
- Writing promotes learning; what we learn through writing we are more likely to retain and more likely to understand.
Source: http://www.mwp.hawaii.edu/why-wi.htm
Though written to describe a different program, the above statement outlines the basic principles underlying WAC at Wright State as well. The purpose of this brief guide is to suggest ways of achieving these goals.
