Overview
In universities across the United States, the most commonly required course is First Year Composition. The course is sometimes abbreviated FYC. It also is variously called Introductory Composition, College Writing, First Year Writing (FWC), Freshman Comp/Composition, and similar names. Although the course is required everywhere, there is little agreement about what the focus of the course should be. Most First Year Composition teachers do include discussion of writing process in their courses, but beyond that one area of common ground, there is very little consensus about what should be taught in the course.
For this portion of our course, we will compare the many different approaches to teaching FYC. Then we will put that analysis to work as you try to design the best First Year Composition Course that you can. Hopefully, your future writing students will benefit from what you learn.
Guiding Question
- What do students need to learn in a college composition course?