147 A Tale of Two Prompts: New Perspectives on Writing-to-Learn Assignments ANNE RUGGLES GERE, ANNA V. KNUTSON, NAITNAPHIT LIMLAMAI, RYAN MCCARTY, AND EMILY WILSON Many claims have been made in the past four decades about the efcacy of writing as a means of fostering student learning in a variety of disciplines. Yet, reviews and meta-analyses of publications about the implementation of writing-to-learn (WTL) pedagogies show mixed results. Ackerson’s review of thirty-fve studies, for example, found little empirical evidence for conceptual learning as a result of WTL. Similarly, Rivard concluded that “A number of issues must be addressed before the research base that supports writing to learn becomes widely accepted by science educators” (975). Investigating the relationship of writing assignments to efects on learning, Durst and Newell found that taking notes and answering comprehension questions may enhance retention, but that more analytical writing engendered “complex under- standings” or conceptual understandings (386). Similarly, Bangert-Drowns et al. (2004) observe that “the simple incorporation of writing in regular classroom instruc- tion does not automatically yield large dividends in learning” (51). Finally, Ochsner and Fowler call for more precision in defning key terms and for empirical evidence of WTL’s “actual (rather than presumed) efects on students’ education” (134). To address the limited evidence that WTL pedagogies actually engender students’ conceptual learning, Rivard recommended analysis of writing tasks or assignments to determine which ones promote knowledge transformation. Bangert-Drowns et al. (2004) responded by coding writing tasks according to fve variables: informational, personal, imaginative, metacognitive refection, and feedback, and they found that metacognitive refection showed a statistically signifcant relationship to more posi- tive efects of writing to learn. Feedback proved too complicated to code accurately, and the other three variables showed no efect. Arnold et al. (2017) analyzed genres of writing assignments and found that essays engendered elaboration and organiza- tion that supported conceptual learning while note-taking and highlighting did not. With these exceptions, there has been little response to Rivard’s call for more analysis of WTL assignments. Since the publication of Bangert-Drowns et al., however, assignments have received increased attention within writing studies. Melzer’s 2014 analysis of 2,101 assignments from one hundred universities revealed how many assignments are underconceptualized, providing students with no indication of audience or pur- pose and relying on terms like essay and research paper with little attention to the The WAC Journal. (c) 2018 by Clemson University. Co-Published with Parlor Press.