SNU students are teaching writing each other.

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will be providing one-on-one writing classes in response to a new writing proficiency evaluation required of incoming freshmen. This year, a trial group of 200 students from the College of Natural Sciences will take the “Writing Proficiency Evaluation,” which will be required of all students starting in 2018.

The evaluation requires the students to read an article from the SNU website and write an essay based on it within a given time limit. The essay is to be roughly 2000 characters and will be graded by the professors of the Faculty of Liberal Education

Only students who score in the lowest percentile will receive indication of their results. The CTL will offer individual courses for these students.

Professor Won-Ki Huh of the Department of Biology and also a member of the Faculty of Liberal Education said, “Throughout high school, students are so immersed in getting accepted into university that they are not properly trained in writing. When they have to write reports and final exams in their university studies, many students face difficulties. For these students, we have created a course to help improve their writing skills.”

Since 2001, SNU has required incoming freshmen to take math and English proficiency exams. Starting this year, writing proficiency will also be a mandatory component.

Written by Yu Young Jin, SNU English Editor, coin1234@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Professor Travis Smith, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, tlsmith@snu.ac.kr