There is an article in the Educause Review New Horizons column on the ‘Persistence of Writing’ by Thomas Burkdall. Burkdall is an Associate Professor in English Writing and the Director of the Center for Academic Excellence at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
In this article he argues for retaining writing and reading as a key part of the higher education of students. He rings the alarm bells at the pronouncements of prominent technological and media moguls who have delcared the death of reading. Even a major annual national conference in the US on writing composition had a major workshop on the assessment of multimedia assignments. He quotes Jonathan Swift, Marcel Proust and Mark Twain amongst others on the importance of reading and writing to understanding and learning.
He argues that it is central to our processes learning and understanding that we read and write. For many this is a solitary task. However, he points out that even multi-media assignments require writing in the preparation. You cannot develop a good voice-over for a short film or presentation without developing a script or written presentation first. The writing style is different and the audience is different, but these are writing skills that may develop improved writing abilities in students.
What light does this discussion shed for academic writers? I think it reminds us about the fact that although for some we may not be as experienced in writing for peer-reviewed academic journals, there are other examples of writing we do as part of our academic practice. This was an issue which came up in an earlier port on Writing as Academic Practice. Some ephemeral writing, such as papers for presentation, or keynote lectures we may have done demonstrate that we ahve acquired skills in writing that are well developed and well-used. Writing for peer reviewed journals or for publications si just writing for another audience.
It asks a fundamental question. One on which the jury is still out. What will theplace of writing be for academics in the future? If we write peer reviewd journal articles, who will read them? In period of economic austerity, I suspect university libraries are looking at their lists of journal subscriptions – many of which have just been thorugh a period of higher than average price inflation – and considering cutting them. This will restrict the readership of many of the journals. We are also moving more and more to online publication. It is some time (possibly more than three years) since I went to a library to pick up a print copy of a journal. What does this mean for hte future of publication if more and more journals are going to be read online?
Thomas Burkdall argues in favour of defending writing in our higher education curricula, suggesting that predictions of the death of writing may be premature. Hoewever, other evidence, for example from the National Literacy Trust suggests that the death of reading is not so clear. for example they reported slight increases in the number of children (both boys and girls). They report different motivations for reading and they report declingin involvement of parents in reading with children for pleasure. So the forms of reading and writing that we and our students are doing and may be changing. Perhaps the truth is more accurately expressed in this way: reading and writing is dead; long live reading and writing
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