Describes the relationship between reading and writing, particularly in the way that extensive reading can help writers improve their writing. Discusses four strategies a writing teacher used to revise a basic writing course. Shows how the strategies derive from current research. Describes briefly how the strategies are employed in designing and…

Examines the extent to which asking 20 entry-level and 19 basic-level college writing students to articulate their initial intentions for writing facilitated the identification of 3 kinds of instructional problems students face in moving from intentions to texts. Suggests that students with useful initial intentions write more effective texts than…

Relates how the author came into a generally contentious classroom of eleventh-grade developmental English students and how it became a place of cooperative reading and writing and critiquing through a democratic approach and a three-week project in which students wrote a fictional story via letter writing. Notes student's involvement and…

This article examines some of the tensions and contradictions between the process-oriented, learning-centered pedagogy commonly associated with basic writing and the product-based, performance-centered moment mandated by writing-for-the-community varieties of service learning. Because end-of-term "writing-for" projects cannot provide students with…

An interim study measured changes in attitudes towards writing and the writing process among basic writing students taught in an electronic classroom (consisting of 25 networked computers). Students in six sections of basic writing which used the electronic classroom for at least 50% of their classroom time, and six control sections which did not…

Viewing writing as a way to heal wounds and even reconstruct past experiences also helps heal the composition discipline's dichotomy between the academic and the personal, the self and the institution. Academicians are not the only writers undermined by this perceived separation: most incoming university students, in particular basic writers,…

Assesses how three basic writers adapted word processing to their writing. Finds that basic writers who were given little guidance in integrating the computer into their composing processes generated little material on the screen and in other ways made far less than full use of the word processor. (RS)

Claims that computer-assisted instruction can be a feasible option for the basic writing classroom. Argues that developmental writers must have the opportunity to use computers to enhance the writing process and improve critical thinking. Advocates using computers to go beyond sentence-level writing errors. (HB)

In this description of a learning community for "at-risk" and basic writing students at the University of Wyoming, I outline the reasons our students resist academic writing prior to their entry into college--reasons largely unrelated to typical perceptions of at-risk students as "lazy" or intellectually less capable. For…

While many factors contribute to success and/or failure in ABE (Adult Basic Education) and ASE (Adult Secondary Education) activities, ABE and ASE writers will succeed or fail in direct correlation to what is happening to their self-esteem in the context of writing instruction. The first guideline for teaching writing to adults is telling the…

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…

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)

Examines research on the causes of writing apprehension. Profiles high-apprehensive writers, characterizes their written products, and describes their writing processes. Suggests four procedures for dealing with writing apprehension: peer group workshops; positive reinforcement; teaching about writing process, and gradually increasing students'…

Describes the integration of computers into the writing practices of a remedial English class in an urban high school. Analyzes the year-long written work of six students in the class. Concludes that the teacher's structuring of instruction had the greatest impact on both student writing and the ways computers entered into that writing. (HB)

This book provides students with the kind of extra help they will need to meet the demands of their first-year writing course as well as their other courses. Through its highly visual, student-centered approach, the book teaches basic skills and engages students immediately in the thinking-writing process, guiding them through the writing…