A downward spiral of writing skills
Author: Joris van de Donk
With education shifting away from writing and the rise of social media, students’ writing skills are slowly fading away. Decreasing writing skills can have a number of consequences, one of which is miscommunication. In the last 10 years, academic research and writing coach at UMC Utrecht Christine Fox has seen a decline in the writing abilities of many students. She does, however, see ways to improve this.
A fast and busy world
Fox notices the way we consume language has an impact on our writing skills. “We read small blogs and small blurts of information; people aren’t writing.” According to research by Common Sense Media, there has been a move away from reading books, especially among older teenagers, which might point to this shift towards the short bites of social media. This decline in what we read subsequently harms our writing skills, Fox suggests.
Another facet of the decline might be education itself. Fox argues that students do not get time to think about their writing: “… the way courses are designed do not allow for that real reflective time.” The authors of Academically adrift noticed that many college courses do not focus their time on writing, and noted that up to a third of college students did not significantly increase their writing skills after four years of studying.
According to Fox, the move towards multiple choice and short answer testing has also harmed students’ language production: “We [the older generation] had to write short essay questions, often including reflection and interpretation and less regurgitation of facts and information. I think that makes a big difference skills-wise, especially for writing.”
This way of testing might be a result of an increased workload for educational staff. “Professors have a multitude of tasks besides teaching.” With full schedules, educators have less time for certain topics, and Fox suspects that writing skills are one of the most important skills to decline. This could worsen science communication, which could contribute to the lack of trust in science we are seeing today.
How to move forward
Although the writing skills of our students seem to be in a chokehold between educational pressures and the short and sweet nature of the internet, Fox does see some ways to improve the system.
One important improvement would be to make space for writing specialists. “The logistics of this might be difficult. I assume this may need to come from higher up such as the government making it more of a priority in the national curriculum and universities finding space and funding for writing centers.” This could take some of the burden off supervisors and give students more time to reflect upon their writing while being guided by a professional. “There are also several initiatives at the UMC and UU, such as the Communication Skills Academy (Coska) that are helping to design new writing courses for bachelor’s, master’s and PhD students from the Faculties of the Life and Natural Sciences.”
Students can also focus on self-improvement: “what I tell all of my students is read... not just for content but read for style.” Students tend to read for information and gloss over how a piece is written, remarks Fox. “In everything you're trying to do, even if it's science, try and tell a story.”
Overall, Fox would urge for investment in writing education: “I think if you create courses and invest in writing for all, then even the weaker students have opportunities.” In the end, this could improve writing in society and create a better dissemination of science towards the public.