Computer science majors' perception of the overlapping cognitive structures between computer programming and English composition

The purpose of this study was to determine (1) whether Computer Science (CS) and Computer Science Information Systems (CSIS) majors recognize the overlapping cognitive structures that exist in the areas of computer programming and English composition and (2) whether these students believe that the overlapping cognitive structures assist them in mastering the writing skills and strategies presented in a technical writing course. The 47 participants in this study were predominantly CS and CSIS majors at a large suburban university; although the class was open to all students at the university, very few participants were majoring in other disciplines.; Participants completed pre- and post-test self-evaluating questionnaires at the start and the conclusion of the academic semester, respectively, in order for the researcher to (1) identify their attitudes and perceptions regarding overlapping cognitive structures and the potential impact of this overlap on writing ability, and (2) measure whether participation in a writing course that did not explicitly draw attention to such cognitive structures had any impact on students' attitudes and perceptions regarding these structures. A select subset of students also responded to follow-up questions and/or participated in interviews.; The findings revealed that although instructors and researchers have identified overlaps in the cognitive structures used in programming and writing, and they have utilized these overlaps to teach English composition to CS/CSIS students, such overlaps are not readily apparent to students without prompting. Yet, these CS/CSIS students, when pressed, were able to identify some analogies between the programming and writing processes, though they professed disbelief that any such relationship between the two would be beneficial to them in a writing course. Consequently, in order for students to benefit from the overlapping cognitive structures that exist between writing and computer programming, instructors need to explicitly identify these structures to students and to develop assignments and activities that demonstrate how these overlapping cognitive structures lead to the transfer of knowledge from one discipline to the other.