Although outcomes assessment (OA) has become "common sense" in higher education, this article shows that the concept of "outcomes" tends to limit and compromise teaching and learning while serving the interests of institutional management. By contrast, the pragmatic concept of consequences tends to expand our view of teaching and learning, and…

The author discusses his experience in a university project that led to the creation of a first-year writing text based on interviews with members of a local neighborhood. In particular, he analyzes the negative reaction that many of the community's residents expressed toward the text's portrayals of them. From the tensions that developed, the…

Many students occupy a minimal space between the profession of composition studies and larger social and institutional constructions of composition, writing, and literacy. For most people outside the field, writing is viewed as a set of skills, rather than a substantive area of study. If students would only learn the rules--and if composition…

Describes one student who resists personal writing. Explores reasons why some students resist personal writing. Considers how providing the conditions for students to speak surely entails that educators become engaged readers and interlocutors of their students' writing, that they regard their writing as ongoing cultural and constitutive teachings…

Traces 25 years of freshman composition courses, highlighting "the expulsion of literature from the Garden of Composition,""the diluting of intellectual expectations and of the principles upon which programs were established," today's better management and writing teachers, and personal changes in instruction. Offers reflections on the future of…

Notes the problems with obtaining literature texts to teach in basic writing courses and the fact that there is very little information on the subject. Offers a discussion of the texts and other information the author has found and concludes that there may be more support for such literature-based programs in the future. (JC)