Writing for the discipline in the discipline?

Abstract

This article explores the issue of students' writing skills in the discipline of Engineering and beyond. It is the result of a discussion between three academics from different discipline backgrounds: Teaching and Learning, the Humanities and Engineering. We start with a review of the strategies commonly used to address problems in students' academic writing skills, with an emphasis on the notions of 'writing across the curriculum' (WAC) or 'writing in the disciplines' (WID). Taking into consideration the issue of students' perception of their 'real curriculum' and the need to embed writing' in the disciplines, we propose a strategy aimed at implementing an efficient teaching of writing skills targeted for a specific discipline. In so doing, we argue that the increasing recourse to independent Learning Development services decontextualises students' understanding of writing. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.