Proper placement of students into either remedial writing or Composition I can be crucial to their success in higher education. Using a database of nearly 6,000 students who entered an open admissions community college in Texas, the researchers attempted to discover the best predictor of student success in Composition I. For students who took a…

A study focused attention on the academic personas acquired by two AAVE-oriented (African American Vernacular English) beginning writers as reflected by their speech in informal settings and the style they employed in academic tasks. The study explores the degree to which literacy experiences (home and school) affect students' lives. It was guided…

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…

Two models of literacy stand in contrast to one another. The first, termed the "autonomous model" by British anthropologist Brian Street, portrays literacy as a value-free, technical skill which effects uniformly positive changes in both individuals and societies. The "ideological model," in contrast, focuses on specific social…

Language interference (which was originally posited in ESL theory) involves ways in which language learners draw upon previous language experiences to fill holes in their knowledge of a second language they are learning. Since the 1970s, language interference has been a part of the pedagogy of basic writing, concerning itself with ways that basic…

Describes and evaluates the effectiveness of an individualized Writing Lab module, developed to prepare students enrolled in Savannah State College's Developmental Studies English Fundamentals classes for the post-Collegiate Placement Examination. The module uses instructor-authored, computer-assisted instruction to provide immediate feedback on…

Presents preliminary results from a continuing study of academic locus of control (ALOC). Describes ALOC differences between development/nondevelopmental students, males/females, and based on class status and number of developmental courses taken. Reveals a more highly developed sense of internal control among nondevelopmental students. Includes…

Describes a study conducted to determine whether the relationships between reading and writing can serve as the basis of a functional pedagogy to improve the reading comprehension of academically underprepared college students. The study also examined the effects of integrated reading and writing instruction on students' skills and attitudes. (PAA)

Presents a longitudinal study of six basic reading and writing students at the University of Florida that traces student progress. Demonstrates that several students experienced progress over a more than three-year span, although improvement was neither linear nor extensive. Identifies growth of metacognitive awareness among students. (HB)

Using cooperative learning techniques in writing classes requires the instructor to plan carefully and respond spontaneously to the assignment as students work through it. Steps using the techniques successfully include: (1) developing academic objectives for each step in the writing process (i.e., prewriting, drafting, revising, and proofreading…

Written by instructors who not only accept but also elect the challenge of teaching basic skills classes in reading and writing to freshmen at the community college and technical college level, this paper examines, first, the basis for the pedagogy employed: the theoretical concepts and the actual students on which the teaching of developmental…

A La Guardia Community College (New York) course in developmental writing for deaf students features small class size and teachers fluent in American Sign Language. Teaching practices include reading of model essays on topics of interest to deaf students, peer feedback on the first two drafts of writing assignments, and student "reading…

When English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students were few and far between at college, they were absorbed into regular Freshman English courses designed for, and dominated by native speakers. However, it appears that ESL students are best served by placing them in classes specially designed for their needs, rather than mainstreaming them or placing…

Compares the quality and syntactic complexity of 2 types of essays written by 44 college freshmen in a basic writing course. Essays dealing with group-phenomenon events (intensification) had more words per clause, but received lower quality scores than essays dealing with individually experienced events (initiation). (PAA)

Stretch 107 is a version of English 107 (a first-year composition course for international students at Arizona State University), designed to provide those with low proficiency in English with various strategies for writing acceptable prose in English. Since it is a 2-semester course, Stretch 107 gives students more time to work on their…