WRITING SKILLS TRAINING FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS IN LARGE CLASSES

First Year engineering students at the University of Edinburgh are taught Writing Skills as part of a Professional Engineering Module. Particular difficulties are presented by the large class sizes and the generally low standard of writing skills among native English speakers at entry to the course. The course aims not only to give students the skills to communicate effectively with any readership but also to teach the conventions of engineering writing. Writer-centred, genre-centred and reader-centred approaches to the teaching of composition skills are all seen as necessary means of helping students to get the most out of their writing, for themselves and for their readers, and of motivating students to improve their writing during the four years of their degree course and beyond, The merits of lectures, handouts, surgery hours and feedback were assessed by means of a questionnaire, student interviews and analysis of feedback proformae. The indications are that structured feedback provides the key to helping individual students evolve and maintain a personal development programme for improving their writing skills to a level which meets the needs of their profession.