Explores how insights of the 1970s are being lost, namely, those about why and how the academy thinks about basic writing and students deemed "illiterate" or "remedial." Examines a discourse that the author calls Basic Writing and how it has marginalized basic writing courses, teachers, and students. (TB)

Argues that basic writing students need incremental assignment sequences to experience success in writing and to develop their abilities to write about abstract concepts. Describes a four-part sequence of writing assignments moving from observing to narrowing to generalizing to theorizing. (RS)

Reviews an instructional strategy for remedial writers which consists of four steps: identifying a strategy worth teaching; introducing the strategy by modeling it; helping students to try it out with workshop-style teaching guidance; and then, helping students to work toward independent mastery. (TB)

Traces the uses of the "urban mission" trope both nationally and locally as it pertains to the history of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Educational Assistance Program. Maintains that educational histories are important because they explain how political dynamics determine who will be basic writers and how many will appear…

Describes a writing studio program that replaces the standard basic writing course by offering special assistance to certain students enrolled in mainstream writing classes. Examines how writing programs have been constructed to include such categories as "basic writer" and how students, teachers, and administrators can get beyond such…

Argues that the evaluation of a basic writing program can demonstrate a program's effectiveness and can be useful in opening up a dialog among the instructors. Describes an evaluation program that combines a variety of writing assessments (essays, a multiple-choice editing test, and portfolios assessment) that provide a comprehensive examination…

Argues for a progressive version of mainstreaming remedial writers through a focus on one student who benefited from a two-semester course responsive to diverse language and cultural backgrounds. Discusses the political dimensions of mainstreaming which are an indelible aspect of writing program administration. (TB)

Shares the author's beliefs about the practice of teaching developmental writing in an attempt to get colleagues in other academic settings involved in a dialogue about the writing philosophies in their practices. Presents an interest in the beliefs and theories that form the foundation of what others do in their writing programs. (VWC)

This article reports on the survey "Remedial Education at Higher Education Institutions in Fall 1995," which was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. It is suggested that administrators and practitioners who deal with basic writing and other remedial programs will learn little about the nature of remedial efforts…

College composition instructors have the opportunity to take a step toward meeting the needs of a pluralistic society by defining a developmental writing curriculum that incorporates the same strategies that characterize the mainstream writing classroom. The "cognitive deficiency model" that characterizes most instruction in…

Describes a method of teaching basic writing to native and nonnative students that emphasizes a regression to the most basic elements of writing. Considers what writing content, rhetorical techniques, grammar exercises, and proofreading methods are most effective for the two groups. (TB)

Argues that the writing center is an ideal place to teach and practice a critical and self-reflective form of acculturation, encouraging underprepared students (especially those marginalized by race, class, and ethnicity) to adopt critical consciousness. Discusses acculturation verses the goals of critical consciousness, the traditional writing…

A multilingual basic writing course is an ideal laboratory for language learning for both second language students and native English speakers. This latter group at Bronx Community College (New York), which is located in a poor, minority urban community, are generally English-as-a-Second-Dialect (ESD) students. What one instructor tries to do is…

Argues that writing is a social practice, and as such, student writing should be thought of as part of the larger society. Reports on responses from 393 (over 50% of those solicited) students in developmental writing courses, which indicate that students want to feel they have a stake in their own learning. (Contains 26 references.) (NB)

For many years, Arizona State University (ASU) allowed its basic writers into its standard English (ENG) 101 course, only after they took ENG 071, a remedial class offered by a local community college. However, it soon became obvious to English Department faculty that the remedial grammar-focused class was not giving this group of students the…