I should say that I don't really think they're on about transferable
skills as much as about explicit teaching of skills. The big news
from their project (they were at it for seven years, and it's
impressive work) is that, in general, they're finding that explicit
instruction in writing in pre-professional programs (i.e., how to
write like a social worker or an architect) doesn't show much
evidence of efficacy. People learn genres by dwelling in them
(Michael Polanyi, call your office), not by paying attention to them,
or to the skills you need to wield them. I draw the further
conclusion that explicit instruction in the academic literary essay
probably doesn't help a whole lot when you start actually writing and
publishing scholarship -- and that if the skills you develop writing
term papers don't have much in the way of consequences for an
academic career, they probably don't transfer over into writing
persuasive business plans or client referrals or building program
summaries. Or MOO dialogue.

Not to say that you don't learn _something_ by practicing all those
genres, and that the something might be general. I think I learn
genres quicker than I used to, for instance (especially now that I
know that's what I'm doing).

Russell Hunt, from Techrhet