As an instructor of the developmental reading and writing course at Texas State University, Barrie McGee is required per state mandate to design a course as an accelerated version of an integrated reading and writing (IRW) course. Furthermore, she is uniquely positioned as a student enrolled in the program in developmental education to access…

Writing support programs for students in writing-intensive, disciplinary courses are well established and take many forms, including communication centers, web-based skill development programs, and embedded writing consultants. This paper assesses the effectiveness of a program that embeds a writing grader, who assesses only the grammar of…

In response to the dearth of research on K to 6 teacher preparation for teaching writing, we investigated writing methods course instructors' course assignments. Participants' courses met the following criteria: (a) Courses taken by undergraduate elementary teacher candidates; (b) Writing methods courses; (c) Use of exemplary writing instructional…

Considering the need for writing and language programs to develop translingual and transdisciplinary pedagogies for teacher development at the graduate level (Canagarajah, 2016; Williams & Rodrigue, 2016), the authors examine the design of a multilingual pedagogy professional development series for first-year Spanish and Writing teaching…

This article reviews insights from place-based education and ecological models of writing to show how these theories can work together to shape locally focused composition pedagogies. From place-based education, the researcher takes an emphasis on physical specificity, and from ecological models of writing, the researcher takes an emphasis on…

This qualitative study reports the findings implementing a pen pal letter exchange project between adult English language learners and volunteer native English speakers. The pen pal project was implemented using a holistic and socio-cultural approach to English literacy development. This article presents pen pal writing as an authentic language…

While literacy autobiographies, citizenship autobiographies, and family narratives are common first writing assignments in the freshmen composition classroom, they are usually followed by some kind of research proposal, annotated bibliography, or research essay. While there is nothing wrong with literacy and citizenship autobiographies or family…

English 1311: Expository English Composition is the first semester course in a two-semester first-year composition (FYC) sequence. Both ENG 1311 and its second-semester counterpart, ENG 1312, are required for all students unless they have transfer credit covering this requirement or place out of one or both of the courses via the College-Level…

Purpose: The purpose of the report is to provide teachers with tried and proven methodology to improve student writing. Methodology: The practices described are based on enclosed research and first-hand experience garnered while working with inner-city students in both middle and high school in San Antonio, TX. Results: Students that are given the…

This article addresses the concern many instructors have about students who do not complete assigned work, particularly the reading. The author explains briefly why extensive reading is so important in developmental writing classes and discusses a multi-step approach she has been using successfully for years. A list of short novels and stories…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…