CREATIVITY AND CONFORMITY IN FIRST-YEAR COMPOSITION AT THE U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY

A mixed-methods scholarship of teaching and learning case study was conducted in two parts with midshipmen enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy to determine if writing error propensity could be decreased over the course of a single-semester first-year composition (FYC) class. During the needs assessment, information provided by 55 midshipmen showed an average errors per 100 words rate of .29 for formal mistakes and .65 for citation errors per essay. Qualitative information collected via survey instruments emphasized the need for an andragogy-centered approach for improvement and real-world applicability. As an intervention, cognitive apprenticeship adjustments to the FYC class syllabus allowed for including a professionally-relevant text, a scaffolded approach to writing projects, and multiple reflective writing activities. Across three writing assignments with different documentation styles, 50 midshipmen decreased their formal (.58 to .23) and citation (.77 to .62) errors per 100 words rates by the conclusion of the semester. The implications of these results are examined for the purposes of practice and future research