In an effort to live up to Elaine Richardson's dictum that educators and researchers must address "the total linguistic, cultural, and historical background of the learner" (19), basic writing scholarship has addressed a wealth of competencies that basic writers bring with them to the university. The literate lives they lead beyond the…

Investigates the contradictory terminological investments within the charges against Mina Shaughnessy's scholarship (i.e., "essentialism,""accommodationism," and lack of "materialist praxis") from poststructuralist, feminist, and Marxist quarters. Maintains, through close readings of Shaughnessy's texts, that the…

Foregrounds issues of race, ethnicity, and education, and ties together two important issues in teaching basic writing: how social and pedagogical issues in higher education shape possibilities for bicultural students' writings, and how these students can use their developing sense of literacy and their texts to explore identity. Discusses…

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…

Explains how faculty at Quinnipiac College reconceptualized developmental English and designed a new program that provides additional instructional time within the regular freshman English course. Finds that developmental students are better motivated and achieve growth in reading and writing commensurate with students who had a prior semester of…

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…

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)

Traces scholarly constructions of basic writers' identities. Asks what those students who are labeled basic writers are accomplishing in their speech and writing. Offers a speculative model for analyzing basic writing student discourse. Uses that model to examine the language used in a basic writing classroom. Reviews the implications of such work…

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)

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…

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…

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…

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…

This paper draws on research that was conducted in a computer-mediated basic writing class taught during the Fall of 1994--the study focused on how computer mediated communication influences students' discourse strategies. The paper discusses how the act of "writing up" a research report constructed the subjectivity of the researcher and…

Reviews research on revising as it relates to the case study of the revising processes of a basic writing student. Shares insights into the complexities of revising and suggests possibilities for more productive teacher response to student writing. (TB)