University Writing CenterThe UWC offers the GWT Student Guide, practice GWT topics, GWT workshops, one-on-one tutoring, and extensive web-based resources to help students pass the GWT. In 2001-02, a total of 420 students (out of almost 2,000 total students) came to the UWC for help with the GWT, in a total of 1,706 GWT-related student contacts.
These students were 48% female and 52% male. They spoke more than 25 languages. About 35% listed Chinese as their first language, 19% Vietnamese, 10% English, 7% Indonesian, 7% Spanish, 5% Korean, 4% Thai. Slightly more than 48% list “Asian-American” as ethnicity, and another 20% are international students from various countries.
They also listed more than 50 different majors. About 13% listed Computer Information Systems, 8% Computer Science, 8% Electrical and Computer Engineering, 5% Art, 4% Accounting, 4% Business Administration, 4% Electrical Engineering, 4% Marketing Management, 3% Finance, 3% International Business.
Unfortunately, even with workshops, practice essays and tutoring, only 136 students, about 32%, passed the GWT with "7" or above. Students are eligible to apply for a waiver of the GWT requirement if they have attempted the test at least five times and have demonstrated “extra effort” to improve their writing skills, usually by writing eight practice essays and going over them with Writing Center tutors. At the time this data was gathered, another 36 students, about 9%, had been granted GWT waivers, and there were at least 30 others whose waiver petitions had not been processed on the system yet.
Seventeen of the students who came to the UWC for the GWT passed with a “9” or a “10.” These were all first time takers who came to the UWC only once, usually for a GWT workshop, except for one who came three times. These students probably would have passed without our help. The rest of the students had very weak writing skills. Only 69 of the students (16%) had EPT scores on the system, which means that most of the students who seek out GWT help are transfer students from other institutions, who did not come through Cal Poly Pomona’s freshman writing programs. Only three had passing scores of 151 or greater, and all of these passed the GWT.
One student, who finally got a waiver, had taken the GWT 26 times. Two students, who are still trying to pass, have taken it 18 times.
There are some success stories. Usually, about 80% of first-time test takers pass the GWT. In my experience, about half of those who fail the first time will probably pass the second time, especially if they attend a workshop or do some practice essays. After the second attempt, the likelihood of passing gets lower and lower and the job of the Writing Center becomes more and more difficult.
However, there were 85 students who passed the exam after multiple attempts. Two students passed after nine attempts. Eleven students passed after eight attempts. This shows that it is possible for a student to pass the GWT even after failing multiple times.
Why do some students have so much trouble passing the GWT? The Writing Center asked some of these students to write essays about their writing difficulties, and asked for permission to quote these essays for this article.
Many of these students are international students or recent immigrants, and almost all are non-native speakers of English. This leads to linguistic, cultural, and rhetorical problems. RL writes:
My language background is Indonesian. The form of my language is completely different from the English. In Indonesia, there is no form or format in writing, it is just simple writing without past, present, or future tense. The way that we pronounce our writing is also very different than the English language.
In Indonesian and Chinese, there is no verb tense. Time is indicated through adverbs instead of changes in the verb form. In English, this would be like saying, “Yesterday I go to the bank.” RL also notes that pronunciation rules are different, making spelling difficult, and that organizational patterns are also different. These problems cause these writers to be slow, creating anxiety when writing under time pressure. KP writes:
Since English is not my first language, I need to spend more time to organize my ideas and to compose a sentence. However, the GWT is time limited. In my past experience, I ran out of time because I spent too much time on organizing my thoughts and worrying about sentence structure. . . . Once I get nervous, my hand will start shaking and I will make many more mistakes than usual.
The time pressure combines with the fact that the GWT is necessary for graduation, increasing the pressure even more. IA writes:
I feel a lot of pressure by taking the GWT, because if I don’t pass this writing test, I will not be able to graduate. Because of the pressure and nervousness resulting from the GWT, I have to spend more time than my regular essay practice time to come up with ideas and organize those ideas.
Many of these students will point out that the GWT is not like a real-world writing task. KP writes:
The GWT has to be finished in class. I do not have a chance to have a computer to correct my misspellings and grammatical errors. . . . In the real world, people type a paper in front of a computer and many major text editors help users on grammatical errors and misspelling. Besides, in the reality, after finishing a paper, you have a chance to proofread it, or have someone proofread it for you.
If students are granted a waiver, a notice is printed on their transcripts that says “Writing Competency Not Certified, Special Waiver Granted.” This is unacceptable to many students, so they simply keep taking the exam. IA writes:
Currently, I am working on my final business research project, and I am planning to graduate this spring. However, since I have not passed the GWT, I have to take another GWT until I pass the test. I do not want to take the GWT petition to waive the test, because it would show up on my transcript.
IA also blames herself for her problems, and tries to engage in positive thinking. She writes:
By listing all of my problems from taking the GWT, I realize that all of the problems are coming from myself. It means that I create those nervous and pressure feelings, which become barriers for me to concentrate and finish my essay. I am sure that by eliminating these barriers, I will be able to pass this upcoming GWT.
Other students simply hate writing, because they are not good at it. In every language and culture there are those who are not good at verbal expression, but have other talents. Facing the problem of expressing himself in a second language, AI, a male engineering student, writes:
I don’t know why I don’t like writing, but I really don’t like writing. One of the possible reasons for my dislike of writing is that I don’t like to express myself, by either behavior or writing. The other reason is that I feel very comfortable with calculating the numbers and considering scientific theories. . . Writing also does not have solid universal theory or equation, like Newton’s law in physics. Since writing does not have theoretical procedure, which ensures that everyone will get the same result every trial, it depends on one’s talent of the literature, which I don’t have at all.
Many of these students will end up having no option but to apply for the GWT waiver. In the mean time, faculty can help by assigning more writing, and sending students to the Writing Center. The UWC will continue to help as many students as possible get the required “7” on the GWT and move on.
