This past summer at the CATTW conference in Sherbrooke, I had the opportunity to share ideas with several new colleagues about our writing consulting group at Carleton University. Following the conference, I was invited to contribute a piece for the newsletter explaining what we do and how our work evokes collaboration between the university and the business community.

CUWC - WHO ARE WE?

CUWC is a writing consulting group that provides writing services under the umbrella of the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Carleton University. CUWC works solely with clients from the private and public sectors and has in several cases provided services to clients from other provinces and other countries. Quite coincidentally, the majority of CUWC's clientele work in the fields of engineering and science.

WHAT IS OUR APPROACH?

CUWC's approach to writing training is grounded in North American genre theory and theories of situated learning (Freedman & Medway, 1994a, b; Lave & Wenger, 1991). The five key elements of this approach are the following: a needs analysis, a training plan, the training (one-on-one coaching using authentic writing tasks), progress reports, and post-training follow-up.

The Needs Analysis

CUWC believes that to ensure that writing training responds to the real needs of the client in the workplace, any writing training project must begin with a "needs analysis." A needs analysis is a form of diagnostic that allows the consultant to

1. identify the writing concerns as perceived by the writers, their supervisors, and their readers,
2. develop a taxonomy of document types produced by the writer so that the consultant can become familiar with the specific writing styles of the client and perhaps begin to identify any relationships between the various documents,
3. become as familiar as is possible, in a short time frame, with the mandate and structure of the organization and the role writing plays in accomplishing its work, and
4. become familiar with both the writers' idiosyncrasies and examples of what management considers to be exemplary writing.

The Training

Although we have developed writing workshops geared to the needs of specific organizations, we most often use a one-on-one coaching approach in our training.

One-on-one coaching

One-on-one coaching is a technique that allows the consultant to work directly with the writers as they engage in writing activities over time. Because the client contacts us as soon as a writing task is assigned, the consultant is able to respond to real writing situations as they occur in the workplace. This approach accommodates the fact that texts are produced over time and are deeply situated in the workplace context. Training in the workplace allows the consultant to better understand the organizational culture within which the writing takes place. This is so because typically one-on-one coaching is a lengthy process, sometimes six months to a year.

Use of authentic writing tasks

Use of authentic workplace writing tasks in the training is as important as the one-on-one coaching. From a purely practical point of view, the use of authentic writing tasks allows the client to remain in the workplace. This means less downtime and less reduction in productivity.

More importantly, authentic writing tasks situated in the day-to-day operations of the workplace facilitate the learning process. Lave and Wenger (1991) believe that

. . . a training program that consists of instructional settings separated from actual performance would tend to split the learner's ability to manage the learning situation apart from his ability to perform the skill.

Progress Reports and Post-Training Follow-ups

CUWC recognizes that many factors can affect the training process and, therefore, consultants must be prepared to accommodate changes to the original training plan. Progress reports bring together the writer, the supervisor and the consultant at predetermined points in the process to ensure that the training plan addresses changing needs.

CUWC uses information gathered from post-training follow-ups to assess the effectiveness of its training and inform and enrich its approach.

THE BENEFITS OF UNIVERSITY/ BUSINESS COLLABORATION

Because almost all CUWC consultants both teach and research writing, they bring to writing training a wealth of experience and knowledge of the most recent developments in writing theory. This exposure to cutting edge work in writing lends credibility to CUWC consultants and enhances their ability to produce the most innovative solutions to writing problems.

One of the many foci in writing research today is the transition from writing in academia to writing in the workplace. Both academic and non-academic organizations tend to overlook this important transition and its effect on writers. CUWC recognizes that writing in the workplace and writing in school present very different challenges. Dias et al. (1999) suggest that newcomers to organizations often have trouble making the transition from university writing, where they write to demonstrate their knowledge, to workplace writing, where they write to get the job done. Because of this understanding of the differences between academic and workplace writing, CUWC consultants can help clients to understand and perhaps facilitate the necessary transition of newcomers from "initiates" to full members in the organization.

Carleton also benefits from this opportunity to work with workplace writers. The consultants are able to gather information about writing practices in a variety of workplaces. These data inform writing pedagogy and bring to the students a current and realistic picture of how writing is accomplished in the workplace and the problems workplace writers face.

UWC's MAJOR CHALLENGE

The major challenge CUWC faces is convincing clients that there are no quick fixes. The writing consulting market is currently flooded with agencies claiming to be able to rectify writing problems in one- or two-day workshops. CUWC's approach to writing training is so radically different that it is not always easy to convince potential clients that the approach is viable. However, on more than one occasion CUWC has worked with clients who have had unsatisfactory experiences with these one- or two-day workshops. In these cases clients were ready to accept an alternative approach. So our major challenge continues to be convincing potential clients that there are no quick fixes when working with writing problems.

Because our approach to writing training in the workplace is radically different from what is currently being promoted in the marketplace and because it is always evolving, we are open to new ideas and would appreciate input from our readers.

References

Dias, P., Freedman, A., Medway, P., & Paré, A.(1999). Worlds apart. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.

Freedman, A. & Medway, P. (Eds.) (1994a). Genre and the new rhetoric. London: Taylor and Francis.

Freedman, A. & Medway, P. (Eds.). (1994b). Learning and teaching genre. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Heinemann.

Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.