Questioning the Effectiveness of Writing-to-Learn

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs are found across middle school, high school, and higher education. One of the primary benefits promoted by the advocates of the practice is writing as a tool to increase learning in all subjects. A study by Spirgel and Delaney, 2015 examined the question of how effective is WAC in boosting learning. Unfortunately, the study found the practice to be no better than other techniques. The authors concluded WAC programs would best serve students by focusing on basic writing instruction. In other words, before students can write to learn, they must first learn to write.

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