In this archival history, a college writing teacher and recent graduate together challenge the integrationist narrative of Basic Writing, grounded in "white innocence" and dating back to the 1970s. Joining other studies of physical and linguistic segregation in higher education, we recover the true birth of Basic Writing from 1969 to…

If assessment is about improving learning and facilitating better teaching through research and helping students learn what higher education purports to value, then the often-invisible institutional barriers that do not always embrace the ways in which classroom assessment can teach an institution about student learning within individual…

Since the 1970s, legacy Basic Writing systems have survived despite growing resistance grounded in an increasing awareness of their troubling roots and harmful effects. In this article, two 2017 basic writing students and their teacher conduct a mixed-method "postmortem" examination of the now eliminated zero-credit course and writing…

Analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of a project that used a peer group leader to help build bridges between basic writers and academic writers. Discusses the implications for the further use of peer group leaders in basic writing. (NH)

Offers a brief Foucauldian archeological history of the "Journal of Basic Writing." Attempts to (1) describe broad historical features of the construction of Basic Writers' identities; (2) examine instances in which critical disruptions and overlaps of such constructions occur; and (3) explore what such moments reveal about trends and…

Claims much of the research composition teachers rely on to shape classroom techniques fails to incorporate the perspectives of the students. Describes broad trends in basic writing scholarship as presented in the first 17 volumes of this journal. Argues that addressing the disjunction between students' assumptions about writing and the…

Discusses the implications of considering different writing components (lexical, syntactic, and rhetorical) separately, in an effort to avoid problems of writing evaluation. Proposes that instead of "balancing" these components, teachers should separate them in working to establish curricula for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students. (MM)

Analyzes two students' responses to a self-diagnostic writing prompt. Finds that the essays are effective in allowing the reader to perform an accurate "diagnosis" and in allowing students the opportunity to articulate their own interests and concerns about their writing. (RS)

Discusses how examination of the assessment criteria in a basic writing program prompted fruitful, continuing program evaluation and change. Reports that the assessment study validated efforts to deemphasize grammar and spelling instruction in basic writing courses. (MM)

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…

A study evaluated a new freshman writing course offered to students at the University of Minnesota who were underprepared for study at a major research university. In the fall of 1997 it was proposed that all freshmen be placed in for-credit, strengthened, basic writing courses rather than placing certain students in non-credit, pre-college-level…