Transforming the Teaching of Writing from a Skills-Based Approach to a Knowledge Construction Approach in a University in Singapore

The Centre for Communication Skills at the Singapore Institute of Technology (CCS-SIT) SIT was established in May 2009 as the fifth autonomous university and the university of applied learning in Singapore which is reflective of the equal emphasis given to classroom teaching of theoretical concepts and the application of those concepts at the workplace, particularly when students serve their compulsory extended work attachment that lasts from six months to a year. At the end of the IWSP, students are required to submit a critical reflection report of approximately 2000 words, detailing the content knowledge they brought to bear upon the work they carried out, challenges they encountered, how they overcame those challenges, what they could have done better, and how they plan to move forward and build on this learning in the future. Despite the overall sense that many students needed writing instruction, not all degree programmes included a compulsory module in academic writing or any embedded writing instruction in their content modules, although almost all programmes required their students to write reports, proposals, and reflections during the course of their three or four year programmes. [...]it was common that at certain points of the year, when students were writing their capstone, final year projects, or IWSP reports, there would be a surge in the number of those seeking help from CCS faculty through the online reservation system. Additionally, senior management of SIT acknowledged that for students to be able to recontextualize, repurpose, and refocus (Robertson et al.) the writing knowledge gained in the 4-credit module taken in the first year at the start of their degree programmes and apply it in new and previously unencountered contexts, purposes and audiences, writing instruction would have to be reiterated throughout students' degree programmes. [...]what CCS had already begun doing by way of embedding assignment-specific writing instructions in content modules, but on an adhoc basis, was formalized as a requirement for all degree programmes across the university.