Lingering in the Threshold: A Faculty Development Initiative to Support Writing Instruction

Abstract

While academic writing is a ubiquitous university requirement, writing is seldom explicitly taught due to structural, attitudinal, and pragmatic constraints. In this paper, I propose a means of supporting writing instruction through faculty development, drawing on threshold concept theory, the strategies that have evolved to support Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines initiatives, and adult learning theory. Taken together, this scholarship suggests that both faculty development offerings and writing instruction are most successful when a balance is achieved between linear progression toward conceptual understanding and cyclical, recursive thinking, allowing learners to linger in troublesome and incomplete understanding. On this theoretical foundation, I propose a model for a writing workshop series to support faculty in writing instruction. I conclude by suggesting ways in which this model could be modified for different institutions and discuss the implications for research and practice as well as the limitations of my work.