Advances the idea of using the workshop format for basic writers' development as writers. Finds that workshops generate conversations and discussions that encourage social, political, and economic awareness to help basic writers discover who and where they are in society. (PA)

Describes the problems some basic writing students have had generating ideas for writing in response to timed essay tests. Proposes a technique based on the classical notion of the "topoi," which enables students to generate ideas and equips them for participation in the social and political dialogs they encounter in higher education.…

Examines the challenges one basic writer, a deaf student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, confronted when she took on the role of public writer. Analyzes the student's attempt to enact change for the sake of uncovering the pedagogical implications that teachers of basic writing must consider when educating students to write for the public…

Demonstrates that students who attempt graphically to represent their own writing process increase their involvement and self-awareness while validating their new writing behaviors and come to understand their role in managing the unique complexities of their own composing process. (SR)

Examines the basic writing course described in D. Bartholomae and A. Petrosky's "Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts" from the perspective of four gender-typed categories: "masculinists,""feminists,""androgenous," and "undifferentiated." Suggests that teachers define themselves, give shape to their…

Charts a brief history of the teaching of basic writing, suggesting that fieldwork has been shaped by three overarching metaphors--growth, initiation, and conflict. Argues that recent views of the basic writing classroom as a "contact zone" fail to offer a compelling view of public discourse as a forum expressing and negotiating cultural…

Presents the results of a questionnaire which asked students to distinguish the most helpful instructional factors and activities aiding their writing progress. Concludes that the student's voice is his/her most accessible tool for progress, that acceptance of the student's voice is crucial, and that the speaking-writing connection is the most…

Considers Mina Shaughnessy's metaphor likening the experience of basic writers to that of "uncultured natives" under European colonization. Advocates decolonizing the classroom by devising a pedagogy of voice in a dialogized space that is continually reconstructed from different locations and identities. (HB)

Compares the work of nineteenth-century Scottish philosopher George Jardine with the work of modern theorists, particularly Mina Shaughnessy. Shows how they all created similar plans for meeting the needs of students without the basic skills needed for traditional modes of instruction. (HB)

Considers the changing definition of "academic discourse" in basic writing instruction. Focuses on preparing students for success in school. Refines positions sketched in an earlier essay. Asserts that new forms of academic discourse mix traditional academic with non-academic discourses, reflecting the profound cultural mixing occurring in the…

Describes a language pedagogy which can help basic writers to understand language's potential to shape, not just to convey information about, social experience. States that students from diverse backgrounds can then more effectively critique the relationships of language's uses in a variety of social contexts. (PA)

Fuses theories about Basic Writers and writer's block. Addresses, through the use of hypertext, how computers can help Basic Writers who experience this writing difficulty. Discusses the two main branches of students' difficulties (problems with genre and problems with the linearity of texts) which may be partially alleviated through the…

Borrows a rhetorical device from Isocrates, imitation, then combines it with the descriptive structure of Liva Polanyi and the referential (rather than expressive) aim of discourse from James Kinneavy to improve student narratives and prepare them for academic discourse. Describes how students imitate the structure of a brief poem, and they use…

Uses the University of Washington as a case study illustrating the double bind basic writing programs are caught up in at public research institutions on the West Coast. Claims the university's Educational Opportunity Program writing sequence is at risk in the face of the anti-affirmative action movement, Initiative 200. (NH)

Relates experiences of three colleagues who organized the panel "Confronting Class in and out of the Classroom" at a Conference on Basic Writing workshop. Suggests social class has been ignored in composition studies; neglect appears to be ending; neglect must end; and instructors' own class histories must be understood and accepted…