The purpose of the study was to validate a writing motivation questionnaire that consists of four scales for first-year college writers--students with low writing skills in basic writing classes and students in typical first-year composition (FYC)--to investigate differences between these two groups and to examine the relationship of motivational…

This article discusses a method of grammar feedback in Basic Writing that asks students to determine the extent of grammar feedback the instructor provides on their writing. Student-directed grammar feedback acknowledges students' agency and ownership of their own languaging and aligns with translingual writing pedagogy. Drawing on students'…

This research was aimed at fostering students' idea generating abilities via the implementation of pre-writing strategies. The study adopted an action research design. The first phase involved problem identification and causes of the problems through focus group discussion and classroom observation. After identifying the challenges, systematically…

Many developmental writing courses in colleges focus on teaching students isolated skills, with little emphasis on how such skills are applicable to the actual process of writing. This article focuses on capturing the perspectives of students enrolled in a developmental writing course designed around an explicit process-oriented pedagogy. The…

According to sociocultural theory (SCT), corrective feedback (CF) entails a negotiation process whereby writing instructors support second language (L2) writers in self-correction and provide a level of guidance needed for writers to actively engage in revision tasks (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994). Drawing on SCT, this collaborative self-study…

In 2012, the State of Connecticut enacted Public Act 12-40, legislation that dramatically changed the way remedial education was theorized, designed, and delivered at community colleges and regional state universities in Connecticut. One of the most controversial features of this legislative movement was that it appeared to establish a…

Through the regular use of what Donald Schon has termed reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action, students can learn to improve their "reflection-in-presentation," in Kathleen Blake Yancey's term. Students are often asked to do this type of reflection-in-presentation as a capstone to first-year or basic writing courses. However, a number of…

This Grounded Theory study utilized Self-determination Theory to analyze the interview results of 18 community college African American and Latino males. The goal was to learn what helped participants to succeed and persist in developmental and transfer-level writing courses despite the obstacles that they faced. Three major themes emerged: (a)…

In order to better understand how to use assessment productively in the basic writing classroom, I asked the question "How do basic writers perceive the assessment process?" The research reported on in this dissertation led to the conclusion that basic writers at Dona Ana Community College perceive and value each part of the assessment…

How many times do teachers assign writing in science class only to be exasperated by their students' lack of writing skills? They often have difficulty making claims and using evidence; instead of explaining their reasoning, they state, "Just because." But teaching writing isn't just for English/language arts (ELA) class. Over the past two years,…

How do institutions and their writing faculties see basic writers? What assumptions about these writers drive writing curricula, pedagogies and assessments? How do writing programs enable or frustrate these writers? How might course design facilitate the outcomes we envision? This article argues that, in order to teach basic writers to enter…

Herrington & Curtis (2000), building on Goldblatt's (1995) idea of the "sponsoring institution," (p. 48) showed students' need for a personal sense of connection with a "sponsoring discourse" when writing in the academy. As Herrington and Curtis, as well as Goldblatt point out, these "sponsoring discourses" often come from outside the academy.…

This study investigated the impact of an Internet based program designed to improve basic writing skills on grammar and punctuation scores on an English Competency Test. Three groups in a small Midwestern university's freshmen composition class were tested: a control group (Test Group 1), which did not use the program; and two treatment groups:…

The critical literature abounds with examples of possible educational uses of Web 2.0 technology in which students become active participants in the production of knowledge through blogging, social networking, creation of podcasts, and other forms of constructivist education. At the same time, teachers, whom the data indicate are somewhat…

While video games have been much maligned in the popular press, a number of scholars have begun to explore the positive side of these games, especially in terms of learning. Some critics have analyzed video games and the act of game play as complex, cultural texts. In college courses, such as composition, in which one goal is the development of…