Can we educate ourselves (further) through the written word?

Our research centres on this key question: What role does the written word have for first semester students in shaping their identity? Our study examines the written word from the perspectives of reception (reading) and production (writing). The question of the relationship between writing and identity is either touched upon or expressly addressed in response to a combined qualitative/quantitative questionnaire completed by several hundred students registered on a range of degree courses at three Belgian universities. The focus in our analysis was on student perceptions of this connection between writing and identity. A study of the student observations revealed a variety of potentially different attitudes to the written word.