For AY 2023-2024, we are excited to announce a more flexible approach to texts in WR 112. In order to make space in the course for other multimodal and critical literacy elements, we will be phasing out the longer work in WR 112. For this year, however, if you wish, you may continue to use a longer work of your choice, or you may stick to all shorter texts/videos. If you use a longer work, feel free to use it at any point in the semester that makes sense to you given the pacing of your course.

Our second-level ELL writing course, WR 112 is taught by over a dozen different instructors, both full-time and part-time, each year. All sections of the course use the same learning outcomes, pedagogical approach, assignment sequence (though instructors should feel free to customize assignments), and core topics for reading, writing, and discussion. The topics for discussion explore aspects of our Hub unit, Global Citizenship & Intercultural Literacy.

Currently, there is no required textbook for WR 112 other than the latest edition of They Say/I Say (which some instructors also choose to require/assign in WR 120), but instructors may optionally ask students to buy and use The Michigan ESL Writer’s Handbook (which is a required handbook and grammar text in WR 111). We suggest choosing 9-11 essays from a shared pool of WR 112 texts (all thematically linked to our Hub unit) to comprise 2/3 of the readings in the course; typically, a narrative longer work (novel, memoir, graphic memoir, etc.–see suggestions below) of the instructor’s choice complements these essays and serves as the remaining 1/3 of the reading in the course. These titles are only suggestions, though: there is a great deal of instructor flexibility in choosing readings for this course, and if you find readings you think work especially well for an exploration of the Hub unit, we would love to share them with other instructors and add them to this list.

Our goal is to use readings that are:

  • Thematically connected to our Hub unit and to other texts (since students need to write both a comparative analysis and a synthesis in WR 112)
  • Diverse in terms of their authors’ race, gender, national origin, and linguistic background, as well as in perspectives and approach to the topics
  • Easily accessible for students without additional monetary cost, either through BU Library electronic resources or open access
  • Relatively current, and representative of different genres, styles, and even (optionally) modes
  • Generally at the approximate level of other first-year course readings across the university (that is, accessible to a general population of undergraduates with no particular prior knowledge assumed, but not so short or simplistic that they feel like high school all over again to students)

If you are new to teaching WR 112, these additional guidelines may help.