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Course Focus — English 1
Connecting academic studies to the real world
By Meagan Parrish
 Almost every degree or transfer student who passes through MATC will take a course in communication. For many, the course is just a requirement and may not be the highlight of their academic career. English 1 may be one such course.
English 1 is the first English course for many MATC Liberal Studies students. English 1 is a basic composition course that is easily transferable throughout Wisconsin’s university system. The course focuses on the process of academic writing. In other words, it teaches essay development and research skills needed in one’s college career.
According to MATC English Instructor Karen Redfield, courses such as English 1 strengthen much needed writing skills and are also as fun and engaging as students would like them to be. But how is that done?
“One of the things we always try to do is tie it to the real world,” said Redfield, who received the MATC Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award in 2006. “The strongest class is the class in which students bring in their ideas and their questions.”
MATC currently employs about 23 full-time English instructors and nearly two dozen adjunct instructors to handle the large number of students taking communication courses each semester.
In recent years, it has become an accepted notion here at MATC, and at many other colleges and universities, that college students often lack strong writing abilities.
“In past years, teachers used to assume that students would be able to write by the time they got to college," Redfield stated, "but that was not always true.”
Because of this, Redfield said MATC places more emphasis on making sure students end up in the right English courses and that they acquire the necessary communication skills in those courses.
Starting in fall 2006, MATC placed more specific requirements on students signing up for English courses. After completing an assessment, students are now assigned a specific course to take, and they are only able to enroll in that assigned course.
Redfield believes this placement process will benefit the student. She also hopes that students, once enrolled in English 1, will gain more confidence in their writing and realize the kind of power their voice can have.
“The world demands our attention, and our voices are important in the world. And if you don’t have a strong and articulate voice, then you’re a spectator, not a player,” she said.
To benefit fully from a course such as English 1, Redfield suggests that students take the opportunity to learn from their fellow classmates in MATC’s diverse student body.
“What’s really good about a writing class is that students read each other’s papers, and they see each other's skill level. That’s motivating because some students think that everyone is really lazy about how they communicate, and they find out that that’s not true. I think there’s a healthy competition,” she said.
Unlike many other courses in which the content is predetermined, students in English 1 often have the unique opportunity to choose the subjects they write about.
Although academic writing may not be exciting to everyone, students in English 1 can still make it interesting for themselves while becoming better writers.
Meagan Parrish is an MATC journalism student enrolled in the Liberal Studies Program.
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