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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Higher education can test a person’s academic abilities in many ways. Most study programs require research, class discussions1, presentations and group projects, to name a few.
Yet if you asked almost any professor or student, they would likely tell you that writing is one of the skills most often examined at colleges and universities. In the United States, writing long essays about complex subjects has been, in many cases, a major part of higher education for years.
However, a new study suggests that many current college students have never experienced2 the challenge of writing very long papers. And some experts argue this may not be as necessary a requirement for their success overall3.
The higher education research company Primary Research Group published the findings4 of its study in late July. It includes data gathered from 1,140 students at four-year colleges and universities in the U.S.
The students were asked about the kinds of long-form writing they had done and the amount of writing training they had received. Nearly one third of them had never been required to write an essay of ten pages or more in length.
James Moses is the president of Primary Research Group. He says, ten pages might seem like an unnecessarily large amount of writing, especially for students in fields like math or science. In fact, he argues, many students avoid longer papers by choosing subjects in which they are less likely to be required.
Moses says students are likely attracted to those fields because they see many of today’s highest paying jobs are at big technology companies.
But he says that many young people fail to understand that there is still great demand for skilled5 writers in the job market. And long form writing assignments do more than measure how much or for how long a person can write about any given thing.
“More than anything else, a long paper teaches you planning and organization, to a much greater extent6 than most other exercises that I can think of in higher education,” he told VOA.
University of California, Davis writing teacher Dan Melzer agrees. He says long form writing assignments can teach skills that are useful even in fields that may not seem to be related7 to writing.
For example, engineers often have to write long, detailed8 proposals9 for building projects. Businesses require well-written business plans to get bank loans10 or money from private investors11.
Both Melzer and Moses agree that there is a deep lack of writing instruction, at all levels of education. The Primary Research Group study found that about 40 percent of college students were not receiving any writing training.
This is not surprising to Melzer, He says it is common for colleges and universities facing financial difficulties to make cuts in such programs. And he says professors often expect students to be well trained in long form writing, from their high school studies or earlier.
But Melzer says that is not fair to students, especially those whose educational experiences were centered on skills other than writing. So, he says, professors of subjects that are not heavy in writing should find ways to include the skill in instruction.
“If your teachers are only giving you exams and you’re cramming12 for the exam and kind of spitting out real short answers…you’re not really doing in-depth thinking or critical thinking,” he said. “You’re not really using your mind to the fullest.”
Elaine Maimon is the president of Governors13 State University in University Park, Illinois. She also helped establish the Writing Across the Curriculum14 movement in the 1970s. This was an effort to get professors in fields like science, technology, engineering15 and mathematics to make greater use of writing in their classes.
Supporters of the movement seek to train such professors in writing instruction. They also help professors share successful writing assignments with each other and show them how best to criticize16 students’ written work.
Maimon shares the opinions of Melzer and Moses that writing instruction is highly17 important. Still, she is not as concerned about the lack of longer assignments. She agrees that in some cases, these long assignments can challenge students in a helpful way. But length is not the only quality that is important, she says.
“Counting pages,…that’s not the way to assess18 whether students are learning19 to be writers,” said Maimon. “If you say, ‘We have a great program and the students have to write five ten-page papers,’ what you’re going to get is a lot of filler. So students aren’t going to be learning how to write, rewrite, rethink. And when should something be brief instead of long? We want to make sure students understand that, too.”
I’m Pete Musto. And I’m Dorothy Gundy.
Words in This Story
academic – adj. of or relating to schools and education
essay(s) – n. a piece of writing that tells a person's thoughts or opinions about a subject
challenge – n. a difficult task or problem
page(s) – n. one side of a sheet of paper especially in a book, magazine or essay
attract(ed) – v. to cause someone to like or be interested in something
assignment(s) – n. a job or duty that is given to someone
extent – n. used to indicate the degree to which something exists, happens, or is true
cram(ming) – v. to prepare for a test by learning a lot of information quickly
spit(ting) out – p.v. to say or write something without thinking about what is being said or written
assess – v. to make a judgment about something
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discussions
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| n.讨论( discussion的名词复数 )；商讨；详述；论述 | |
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experienced
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| adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的 | |
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overall
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| n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的 | |
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findings
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| n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决 | |
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skilled
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| adj.(in)熟练的，有技能的；需要技能的 | |
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extent
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| n.程度，范围，限度；广度，宽度，大小 | |
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related
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| adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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proposals
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| n.提议( proposal的名词复数 )；推荐；求婚；赞成提案 | |
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loans
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| n.借出物，借款( loan的名词复数 )v.借出，贷与（尤指钱）( loan的第三人称单数 )；出借（贵重物品给博物馆等） | |
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investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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cramming
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| n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课 | |
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governors
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| 主管( governor的名词复数 )； 理事； （美国的）州长； （学校、学院、医院等机构的）董事 | |
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curriculum
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| n.课程，（学校等的）全部课程 | |
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engineering
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| n.工程，工程学，管理，操纵 | |
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criticize
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| vt.批评；批判，指责；评论，评价 | |
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highly
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| adv.高度地，极，非常；非常赞许地 | |
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assess
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| vt.对…进行估价；评价，评论 | |
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learning
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| n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词 | |
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