A Study on the Composition of University Writing Class for Developing Communication Competency : Based on the ‘Backward by Design’

The purpose of this study is to develop a backward-design unit that can be applied to a writing course taught in a university liberal arts program. To this end, a unit was developed according to the three steps of the backward design model, ‘Identify desired outcomes - Determine acceptable evidence - Plan learning experiences’, in order to explore communication competencies, set goals, and reflect these goals in assessment and instructional content. In this paper, we designed a lesson model for the unit ‘Writing an Opinion Column’ in the K University writing textbook. We set the enduring understanding of the unit as ‘Write an opinion column that considers various elements of the context in which communication takes place and uses effective expression strategies to express opinions’, and developed essential questions by exploring aspects of the understanding that could refine it. To assess the degree of achievement of the objectives, performance tasks were developed using the GRASPS technique and an analytical rubric was used to guide the assessment. We also developed other sources of evidence to assess the unit’s core knowledge and skills. Finally, we utilized WHERETO elements to plan specific learning experiences and lessons. This process led to the development of a backward design template for the ‘Writing Opinion Columns’ unit. It is hoped that this study will serve as a reference instructional model by providing lesson design procedures and examples that can be referenced when redesigning units in performance-based instructional settings such as writing classes.