Listening to Incoming College Writers--What Is College and Career Ready?

Thanks for taking a few moments to share feedback from your listening tour session and for submitting this survey form by September 30 (NOTE: THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 7). If you would prefer to send a written summary or recording of your session, please email it to CCCC Liaison Kristen Suchor (ksuchor@ncte.org).

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* 1. Which of the following describes the setting/circumstances in which you held a listening tour session? (Check all that apply.)

We held it during a class session of a writing course.

We held it outside of the regular classroom, in a more informal setting.

I moderated it as a whole-class discussion.

Students met in small groups to discuss their answers.

I administered it as a survey.

I asked students to write about some or all of the questions.

I plan to return to the questions later in the term, to see if their responses change.

What else is important to know about how the listening session was conducted? (240 characters available)

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* 2. How many students participated in your listening tour session?

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* 3. Defining composition broadly to include making notes and lists; posting on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites; composing digitally with video or music; as well as the kind of writing traditionally done in school or the workplace, approximately how many hours a week did each of your students spend composing, on average?

___ (number of hours)

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* 4. In the past year, how many of your students have written anything for political/social purposes (including letters to policy leaders, op-eds, videos with a social/political message, online commentary on political/social issues)?

None

1% - 20%

21% - 40%

41% - 60%

61% - 80%

81% - 100%

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* 5. During the past week, approximately how many hours, on average, did students report composing or editing with each of these tools?

Pen/pencil

Phone

Tablet

Laptop/desktop

Camera or video editing equipment

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* 6. Approximately what share of students' writing time in the past week was devoted to writing for informal purposes (e.g., writing done without revision, largely for personal purposes)?

25% or less

26% - 50%

51% - 75%

76% - 100%

Generally, how did they compare writing for school/work to writing for out-of-school purposes?

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* 7. Which of the following statements do you think best represents your students' comments/perspectives?

Most or all believe that the writing they do for informal purposes helps them write better in school or in the workplace.

Most or all think that the writing they do for informal purposes doesn't have much of an effect on writing that they do in school or in the workplace.

Class members seemed evenly split on whether there is any positive transfer between informal writing and the writing they do in school or in the workplace.

Most or all think that the writing they do for informal purposes makes it more difficult to write effectively in school or in the workplace.

Most did not acknowledge writing for informal purposes.

What insights did you gain from their discussion about the relationship between writing for less formal and more formal purposes? (240 characters available)

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* 8. Compared to family members who were their age a generation ago, do your students think they write more, less, or about the same amount?

Less

About the same

Not sure

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* 9. What are your students' main expectations of college writing? What influenced/shaped these expectations? (800 characters available for response)

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* 10. How well do your students think their high school writing courses prepared them for success in college?

Most or all believe they were well prepared for college writing.

Some feel they were well prepared for college writing, but roughly the same number do not.

Few have an opinion about this.

Most do not feel well prepared, but a few do.

None of them feel well prepared for success in college writing.

What do they wish they knew more about/had practiced more prior to taking college writing?

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* 11. What kinds of strategies that they practiced in high school helped prepare them for college writing?

	Not mentioned	Mentioned by a few	Mentioned frequently
Note taking	Note taking Not mentioned	Note taking Mentioned by a few	Note taking Mentioned frequently
Summarizing	Summarizing Not mentioned	Summarizing Mentioned by a few	Summarizing Mentioned frequently
Journaling	Journaling Not mentioned	Journaling Mentioned by a few	Journaling Mentioned frequently
Annotating	Annotating Not mentioned	Annotating Mentioned by a few	Annotating Mentioned frequently
Reflective writing	Reflective writing Not mentioned	Reflective writing Mentioned by a few	Reflective writing Mentioned frequently

Other strategies mentioned? (400 characters available)

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* 12. To be successful in college, which “rules” of writing or language do they think are important to know?

	Not mentioned	Mentioned by a few	Mentioned frequently
Parts of speech	Parts of speech Not mentioned	Parts of speech Mentioned by a few	Parts of speech Mentioned frequently
Punctuation	Punctuation Not mentioned	Punctuation Mentioned by a few	Punctuation Mentioned frequently
Spelling	Spelling Not mentioned	Spelling Mentioned by a few	Spelling Mentioned frequently
Capitalization	Capitalization Not mentioned	Capitalization Mentioned by a few	Capitalization Mentioned frequently
Formatting	Formatting Not mentioned	Formatting Mentioned by a few	Formatting Mentioned frequently
Citation systems	Citation systems Not mentioned	Citation systems Mentioned by a few	Citation systems Mentioned frequently
Awareness of diction	Awareness of diction Not mentioned	Awareness of diction Mentioned by a few	Awareness of diction Mentioned frequently

Other rules or conventions mentioned? (400 characters available)

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* 13. Do the majority of your students think that writing in social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc., will be important for their success in college? Why or why not?

Yes

What reasons did they mention for this belief? (400 characters available)

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* 14. What habits of mind or personal characteristics do your students believe are essential for successful college writers?

	Not mentioned	Mentioned a few times	Mentioned frequently
Intellectual curiosity	Intellectual curiosity Not mentioned	Intellectual curiosity Mentioned a few times	Intellectual curiosity Mentioned frequently
Open mindedness	Open mindedness Not mentioned	Open mindedness Mentioned a few times	Open mindedness Mentioned frequently
Commitment to improvement/persistence	Commitment to improvement/persistence Not mentioned	Commitment to improvement/persistence Mentioned a few times	Commitment to improvement/persistence Mentioned frequently
Reflection/metacognition (thinking about one's own ideas/processes)	Reflection/metacognition (thinking about one's own ideas/processes) Not mentioned	Reflection/metacognition (thinking about one's own ideas/processes) Mentioned a few times	Reflection/metacognition (thinking about one's own ideas/processes) Mentioned frequently
Inventiveness	Inventiveness Not mentioned	Inventiveness Mentioned a few times	Inventiveness Mentioned frequently
Risk-taking (willingness to try new ideas)	Risk-taking (willingness to try new ideas) Not mentioned	Risk-taking (willingness to try new ideas) Mentioned a few times	Risk-taking (willingness to try new ideas) Mentioned frequently
Confidence	Confidence Not mentioned	Confidence Mentioned a few times	Confidence Mentioned frequently
Pride in work	Pride in work Not mentioned	Pride in work Mentioned a few times	Pride in work Mentioned frequently
Time management	Time management Not mentioned	Time management Mentioned a few times	Time management Mentioned frequently

What habit/characteristic did they mention most frequently, and why do you think it is seen as most important? (400 characters available)

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* 15. What formative experiences as writers do they feel best prepared them for success in college? (800 characters available)

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* 16. When they think about careers or other pursuits after college, what do they think will be important for them to do as writers? (800 characters available)