FAQ for English 306 Instructors
During the 2011-2011 academic year, as part of an i2a grant initiative to incorporate more critical
thinking in our English 306 classes, a group of English 306 instructors conducted a series of interviews
with faculty from a variety of fields including Business, Arts & Sciences, and Education. We also sought
feedback from local business leaders. The primary goal of these interviews was to gather information
that could help us better prepare our students for the communication tasks they would face in their
academic and professional futures. The questions and answers below are based on those interviews
and should help guide English 306 instructors as they develop their coursework. This FAQ is not
exhaustive; it merely highlights the most pertinent information culled from our interviews regarding the
communication competencies others hope our students have when they complete English 306. These
competencies are also present in our revised English 306 learning outcomes.
Would business writing students benefit from more explicit instruction of critical thinking skills? How
can we encourage our students to think more critically as they approach a writing task?
There was universal agreement among our interview subjects that students need to refine their critical
thinking skills as they approach writing tasks in the classroom and in the workplace. There is no doubt
that students would be better prepared to succeed in such writing tasks if they had a greater command
of the universal intellectual standards outlined in the Paul-Elder critical thinking model: clarity, accuracy,
precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness. All of these standards, to varying degrees, were
brought up in our interviews as areas that students need to improve upon. We can help our students
improve their command of these standards by emphasizing their importance as we assign and assess
their coursework. Some examples of how best to do this can be found in the form of the sample
assignments and rubrics posted on E-Files.
Should we spend significant instructional time teaching layout, design, and the creation and
incorporation of visual aids in our student’s writing?
Yes. Our interviews indicate that other faculty and future employers expect students to be proficient at
presenting information in the most effective way possible. Often, this means that they are expected to
be well-versed in visual rhetoric. Therefore, we should teach effective document layout and design, and
how to create visually balanced documents that are professionally formatted and incorporate visual aids
as needed. If we do not teach these skills and assess them by having students create at least some
documents that require special formatting and/or the incorporation of visual aids, we are not fully
preparing our students for the realities of business communication in the 21st century.
Do business writing students need explicit instruction on grammar, usage, and style?
In many cases, it would seem so. English 101 and English 102 are prerequisites for English 306, and
many English 306 students are juniors and seniors who should be familiar with common usage errors
and sensitive to stylistic concerns such as clarity, concision, coherence, and cohesiveness. However, our
interviews indicate that even upper level students could benefit from having these skills reinforced. In
addition to these issues, common to all types of writing, special emphasis was placed on the need for
business writing students to be sensitive to the tone they take in professional communications. Very
often, students seem to treat professional communications too informally, and sometimes without as
much tact as required.
Should we assign collaborative writing assignments? If so, how much guidance do students need on
collaborating successfully?
Collaborative writing is often loathed by students, but it remains a reality of how writing tasks are
accomplished in many professional settings. Therefore, it is important that we assign at least some
collaborative writing to our students. However, to ensure that our students do not become needlessly
frustrated with the process of working with others as they write, it is not enough simply to assign a
collaborative writing project to our students. We must also teach them how to effectively engage in
collaborative writing. Many textbooks include information about collaborative writing, and there are
additional resources, such as Joanna Wolfe’s Team Writing: A Guide to Working in Groups, that provide
essential guidance for effective collaborative writing.
Should we spend instructional time teaching résumés when many of our students learn how to write
them in other classes?
Yes. While it is true that many of our students, especially business majors, will enter our classes with
some experience writing résumés, many others will not have extensive résumé writing experience.
Furthermore, even students with experience writing résumés most often do not have enough
experience with other documents associated with the job application process (i.e., cover letters and
follow up letters), nor have they had training in thinking critically about the rhetorical situation that
should inform how they craft such documents. Typically, even students experienced with résumé
writing still need additional guidance in considering audience, purpose, and tone, as well as practice
honing the intellectual standards of clarity, accuracy, precision, depth, and relevance as they craft job
application materials. Therefore, English 306 students certainly benefit from being taught how to craft
résumés and other job application materials.
What other genres of writing should we teach in our courses?
Several interviewees expressed a desire to see certain genres taught in our classes, but all agreed that it
is not possible to teach students all the forms they may have to write in the future. Business writing
students will face a wide variety of writing tasks in their coursework and professional careers. While we
can and should teach some of the most common forms such as memos, emails, letters, proposals, and
reports, it is also important to emphasize to students that the writing skills they hone in English 306 are
transferable to new writing tasks they will face. Therefore, while we teach common business writing
genres to our students, we should also teach them critical thinking skills that will enable them to
transfer general writing competencies to new writing genres as well.