Survey of 1^st Year Writing Students

English 102

Total: 628

If in English 102, did you receive credit for English 101 through a placement test?

Yes	148	23.60%
No	464	74.00%
Don’t know	14	2.23%
Left blank	2	.16%

2.) Age?

age	#	age	#	age	#	age	#	age	#		age	#		age	#
16	1	21	60	26	10	31	10	36	3		41	2		47	2
17	13	22	37	27	12	32	7	37	2		42	2		48	2
18	97	23	45	28	13	33	5	38	4		43	3		49	3
19	116	24	35	29	12	34	3	39	3		44	4		50	1
20	78	25	16	30	12	35	7	40	3		45	1		51	1
										46			1	52	2

3.) What is your sex?

Male	314	50.00%
Female	314	50.00%

4.) What is your academic standing?

Class	#	Percent of Class
Freshman	342	54.46%
Sophomore	207	32.96%
Junior	50	7.96%
Senior	22	3.50%
Other	7	1.11%

5.) Is English your main language in your home?

Yes	614	97.77%
No	14	2.23%

6.) If English isn’t mostly spoken in your home, what language is?

Language	# spoken	Language	# spoken	Language	#spoken
Arabic	1	Filipino	0	Romanian	0
Basque	0	German	0	Russian	0
Bosnian	0	Japanese	1	Spanish	7
Cantonese	1	Korean	1	Swedish	0
Chamorrow	0	Laos	1	Ukranian	0
Chinese	0	Polish	0	Vietnamese	2

7.) What test did you use for placement into this course?

	English main language		Foreign main language
Compass	59	9.39%	0
ACT	183	29.14%	2	14.29%
SAT	70	11.15%	1	7.14%
Michigan Test	0		4	28.57%
A/P	8	1.27%	0
Other	77	12.26%	2	14.29%
Don’t know	217	34.55%	5	35.71%

8.) In your previous English courses (including high school courses), were you ever required to write a research paper?

Yes	586	93.31%
No	35	5.57%
Don’t know	7	1.11%

9.) In your previous English courses (including high school courses), did you ever discuss plagiarism?

Yes	601	95.70%
No	19	3.03%
Don’t know	8	1.27%

10.) How would you describe your attitudes towards writing?

I love it	72	11.46%
I like writing	221	35.19%
I don’t mind it	210	33.44%
I dislike writing	82	13.08%
I hate writing	24	3.82%
I don’t have a opinion about it	19	3.03%

11.) Which of the following are problems you face when writing? Check all that apply.

Getting started	375	59.71%
Coming up with information or ideas	185	29.46%
Rewriting or revision	216	34.39%
Trying to avoid grammar mistakes	272	43.31%
Organizing the information	222	35.35%
Finding a good ending	200	31.85%
Coming up with a topic	270	42.99%
Having enough time	245	39.01%
Making a point	139	22.13%
Doing research	178	28.34%
Spelling	163	25.96%
Narrowing my topic	228	36.31%
None of the above	13	2.07%

12.) Which one of the following do you believe most strongly is the key to becoming a better writer?

Studying the basics, starting with sentence structure, then paragraphs, and then the whole compositions.	94	14.97%
People are born writers. Either you can do it well or you can’t.	51	8.12%
People have to develop confidence in their own writing voices before they can improve.	200	31.85%
Improving one’s writing involves an understanding of the steps involved and practicing each separately.	94	14.97%
You get better at writing if you read a lot.	60	9.55%
Developing writers most need to learn how to produce the various forms of writing-argument, exposition, description, etc	73	11.62%