A seven-credit-hour block course, which includes Public Speaking (three institutional credits), Basic Writing (three program credits), and Reading (one program credit) was created at Murray State University to give at-risk freshmen an opportunity to take a university credit course (Public Speaking) while strengthening their reading and writing…

Examines phonological transfer in developmental student writing (spelling or word configurations that represent what the writer hears). Examines two discourse features--"by strings" and "topic/comment" sentence structures. Analyzes a developmental writing African American student's essay, demonstrating the power and tension in…

Argues that a computer-integrated classroom for basic writers can build community and enhance peer response. (TB)

The Basic Writing course at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst was altered to give voice to marginalized minority students. The reading list was changed to include predominantly non-White authors, and students were encouraged to reflect on these readings and express in writing their own experiences of marginalization. (SK)

Discussion of the use of text analysis software by basic writers in college courses focuses on a study conducted in 1982-83 at Colorado State University that investigated the benefits of using the Writer's Workbench software in a basic writing program. Data are reported on holistically scored writing samples, editing quizzes, and student…

Attempts to assist teachers in helping students navigate the breaches that occur when what is learned at school is diametrically opposed to the values the student learns at home or in the community, particularly when those values inhibit language acquisition. (KEH)

Details strategies for applying writing research and theories to the college basic writing classroom. Encourages instruction focusing on the complete writing process and on meaning rather than linguistic structure. Offers guidelines for creating a process-centered classroom and holding effective writing conferences with students. (PAA)

Describes a writing project developed in Alaska, called the Chukchi News and Information System, in which basic writing students (primarily Eskimos, Indians, and Aleuts) are given an outlet to publish their work in various periodicals across Alaska. Argues that such outlets provide students with valuable real world writing experiences. (HB)

Discusses the state of access to higher education among disenfranchised students, considering the systemic attack on economically impoverished students in higher education. Describes a group of students enrolled in the University of Minnesota General College under a pilot welfare reform program which was terminated abruptly for political reasons.…

Analyzes methodologies used by those embroiled in the "mainstreaming debate" (whether a basic writing curriculum is the best way to help entering college students). Finds methodological confusion leading to monologues going in circles rather than constructive dialectic. Argues that researchers ought to consider the evidence and arguments of those…

Notes that the debate about required composition courses like Basic Writing has taken a new urgency, given recent decisions and inclinations to eliminate such courses at four-year colleges in City University of New York and elsewhere. Revisits that debate (some of which occurred in this same journal in the 1990s) and argues for movement beyond a…

Evaluates a three-year pilot project in mainstreaming basic writers at the City University of New York. Suggests that the social and political contexts of a project need to be taken into account in the earliest stages of evaluation. Claims the empirically verifiable account that researchers sought was compromised by the socio-political forces…

Presents an anecdotal inspection of the theory, classroom environment, and application of an experiment with hypertext and developmental writers in a computer-mediated classroom. Notes that the classroom focused on the maternal practice of storytelling and conversation--two alternative modes of learning associated with feminist concerns. Suggests…

Notes that online writing environments can lead basic writers to focus on the instrumental nature of language and technology, construe writing as performance, and see revision as error correction. Explores computer use as an aid in the process of composition in a one-credit computer lab course. Finds that basic writers face significant…

Suggests a prewriting activity that encompasses peer questioning to help basic writing students come up with topics for papers. Contends teachers should explain their expectations to the students and gives a homework assignment to either write a letter to their "future" children or devise a "life tree." Describes questioning in…