First-Year Composition
The University of Hawai‘i – West O‘ahu’s First-Year Composition program is a rhetorically-focused, process-oriented, two semester sequence of writing courses that helps students explore and hone their own writing processes; analyze and create persuasive arguments; ethically conduct and meaningfully integrate research; rhetorically analyze and adapt to different audiences; and build flexible and contextual strategies for composing in a wide array of communicative situations.
Program Basics
The University of Hawai‘i – West O‘ahu’s First-Year Composition program:
- is comprised of 3 general education composition courses: ENG 100 (Composition I), ENG 200 (Composition II), and the developmental, stretch course ENG 100T (Composition I with Tutorial);
- is taught by an experienced cohort of faculty who meet regularly to discuss the ways their courses can follow national best practices while remaining consistent with UH West Oʻahu’s mission and the specific needs of its students;
- coordinates with enrollment services, student services, the registrar’s office, the Writing Committee, and the Noʻeau Center to assist students with appropriate and successful placement and transfer of credits into UH West Oʻahu’s composition courses;
- also includes ENG 316 (Writing Fellows: Peer Tutoring) which provides supplemental instruction to ENG 100T sections and students, offers UH West Oʻahu students professional development in Writing Center and Tutoring theory, and facilitates training of future No‘eau Center Writing tutors;
- is actively involved in UH West Oʻahu’s dual enrollment initiatives with area high schools and the PIKO program’s learning communities program.
Speak to a WP Administrator today!
For more information about the program, its curricula, or its collaborative initiatives please contact UH West Oʻahu ’s Writing Program Administrator, Mike Pak, at pakm@hawaii.edu or 808.689.2390.
Program Outcomes
UH West Oʻahu’s FYC program aligns itself with the WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition, the UH system’s Hallmarks for Foundational Writing, and UH West Oʻahu’s academic emphasis on written communication. After completing the courses in UH West Oʻahu’s FYC Program (ENG 100T/100 and ENG 200), students can demonstrate and apply:
- Strategies for composing in genres associated with college-level writing (e.g. summaries/abstracts, narrative/expository/creative pieces, analyses, arguments, researched-based inquiry, research reports, annotated bibliographies);
- Critical thinking, reading, and composing strategies (e.g. critical inquiry, interpretation, synthesis, response, critique, and design/redesign);
- An understanding of composing as a recursive, social, and collaborative process (which involves multiple drafts that undergo revision, editing, and proofreading in workshops, conferences, discussions, and reflective free-writes);
- Rhetorical awareness (including the ability to analyze contexts, purposes, and audiences and apply that knowledge to the creation of texts in a variety of genres and media);
- Knowledge of conventions (including genre conventions of style, organization, design, and tone; appropriate and ethical research and citation conventions; and proper mechanics, syntax, grammar, usage, and spelling conventions).
- Appropriate and ethical information literacy skills (including locating and evaluating primary and secondary research materials from a wide array of academic and online sources; integrating source materials into texts; and employing proper citation practices).
*The UH West Oʻahu FYC program would like to assert that students who successfully complete ENG 100 and 200 will not have “perfect” writing skills nor be capable of composing “perfect” texts. Writing is a continuous, ongoing process that evolves throughout students’ college careers, and students’ writing abilities mature as they academically specialize and better understand their disciplines’ valued epistemologies, genres, research methodologies, and writing conventions. The rhetorical strategies students are equipped with upon completion of the FYC program need to be fostered and developed further through the guidance of UH West Oʻahu faculty across disciplines in upper level WI and non-WI courses alike.
Common ENG 100 & 200 Assignments
The specific theme, content, and lessons included in each FYC course varies by faculty member and section; however, there is a set of common assignments that run through the program as a whole and align all sections with the program’s learning outcomes.
1. (Creative/Personal) Narratives
Description: these assignments ask students to write about their personal experiences regarding an array of topics (literacy practices, relationships, community membership, media participation, etc.)
Goal/Purpose: to help students develop personal connections and investments in the course context; transition into college, the course, or specific units/topics; and explore the intersections between academic and personal writing
Forms: a variety of written and multimedia texts (academic, creative, poetic, audio/visual, etc.)
2. (Rhetorical, Cultural, Visual, or Literary) Analyses
Description: these assignments ask students to analyze the structures, themes, styles, rhetorical strategies, audience adaptations, visual elements, arguments, opinions, etc. present in a variety of cultural text and artifacts, literary pieces, or visual/multimedia texts
Goal/Purpose: to help students develop critical thinking and reading skills; understand and analyze rhetorical strategies; and construct evidence-based analyses that move toward balancing outside sources and informed personal opinions
Forms: traditional, written academic arguments (thesis driven with evidence-based claims, introductions, and conclusions)
3. (Researched) Arguments
Description: these assignments ask students to create research-based claims and construct evidence-based arguments in response to/regarding an array of instructor- or student-selected topics
Goal/Purpose: to help students develop their research and information literacy practices; meaningfully incorporate outside research into their own informed opinions and argument; develop a writerly balance between outside sources and personal opinion; and better understand and implement ethical and academic citation practices
Forms: a variety of traditional, written academic arguments (thesis driven with evidence-based claims, introductions, and conclusions); individual or group oral presentations/debates; or multimodal text campaigns
4. Creative Prose (Fiction, Non-Fiction, or Poetry)
Description: these assignments ask students to use a variety of narrative and creative techniques to create short stories, flash fiction, poems (or series of poems), scripts, etc.
Goal/Purpose: to help students understand the rhetorical potential in writing with detail, dialogue, metaphoric awareness, in poetic prose, etc.; explore the intersections between academic and creative writing; and develop a metacognitive awareness of techniques utilized by professional writers
Forms: a wide array of written, visual, oral, or multimedia formats
5. Multimodal Arguments
Description: these assignments ask students to convey their research, arguments, analyses, critiques, opinions, etc. through multimodal, as opposed to exclusively alphabetic, means (i.e. using visuals, moving image, audio, etc.)
Goal/Purpose: to help students apply their knowledge of rhetorical strategies in different modes, genres, and media; build transitions between academic composing and everyday multimedia composing; and create tangible connections between classroom lessons and everyday composing practices
Forms: a wide array of written, visual, oral, or multimedia formats
6. Group Projects
Description: these assignments ask students to work collaboratively to conduct research, construct arguments, analyses, critiques, opinions, etc., and compose final texts or presentations
Goal/Purpose: to help students understand and enact the social and collaborative nature of writing; build classroom cultures of community and shared investment in the learning process; and practice and troubleshoot collegial and workplace collaboration
Forms: a wide array of written, visual, oral, or multimedia formats
7. Oral Presentations
Description: these assignments ask students to convey their research, arguments, analyses, critiques, opinions, etc. in face-to-face, individual or group oral presentations; they may also include visual elements or the facilitation of class activities or discussions/debates
Goal/Purpose: to help students practice public speaking and presentation strategies; build a classroom culture of community and investment; apply their knowledge of rhetorical strategies in oral modes, and build tangible connections between classroom lessons and everyday speaking practices
Forms: a wide array of oral, visual, or multimedia formats
8. (Accompanying) Reflective/Metacognitive Memos
Description: these assignments are submitted in conjunction with the above projects; they ask students to reflect on their composing practices and processes and articulate/rationalize their rhetorical choices regarding the accompanying assignment
Goal/Purpose: to help students reflect on and therefore develop a metacognitive awareness of their own composing process and practices; self-identify areas of needed improvement or further development; and develop rhetorical awareness that can transfer course content and strategies into other academic and non-academic composing situations
Forms: typically an informal written letter or memo that responds to prompt questions