Posits that basic writing serves a vital function by providing writing support for at-risk students and serves the needs of a growing student population that universities accept yet feel needs additional writing instruction. Concludes that the basic writing classroom is the most effective educational support for at-risk students and their writing.…

Describes both past and more recent efforts by the California State University (CSU) system to come to terms with "remediation." Describes recently mandated collaborations between high school language arts faculty and CSU English faculty to reduce the need for remediation. Describes an ongoing outreach program addressing the needs of…

Discusses training as a gesture made within institutional power structures that can be influenced in various ways to help bring about good basic writing instruction. Offers questions, observations and discussion with the hope that others will re-consider training as an institutional presence made visible through their own campus configurations of…

Discusses how various factors combined to move Chabot College, a California community college, towards creating a mission statement for all their English courses and within that context, one for their basic writing courses. Notes that the context for the creation of the mission statement includes a commitment to basic writing as a legal mandate,…

Examines whether prerequisite relationships exist between five analytical components of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) composition: content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. Finds the need for an approach to writing which recognizes that "separate skills" are actually highly interrelated. (MM)

Claims compositionists misrecognize stylistic and institutionalized conventions of academic discourse in their own rhetoric and in the evaluation of their students. Argues that students should be included in the practices by which compositionists "normalize" these conventions. Suggests how students might be included in the evaluative…

Explores some of the differences between faculty and policy advocates by analyzing spatial/directional metaphors used by individuals in each professional domain to describe notions of access and standards. Notes that advocates in the policy-oriented discourse tend to use vertical metaphors, while educators engaged in pedagogical discourse tend to…

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)

Argues that the identity of basic writing (its status and position) is a function of larger institutional decision-making processes and therefore the focus of efforts to change basic writing should also engage these institutional processes. Focuses on how participating in technology design can be a wedge for engaging in decision making about the…

Constructs narratives concerning working class students to highlight the difficulties of negotiating academic codes and the necessity for writing teachers to strive to provide the space for working class students to "speak differently." Finds the negotiation must flow in two directions: the academy cannot take over a text without being…

Contends that Native American students have too often been marginalized in Basic Writing research. Notes that educators must work against invisibility of Native American students as well as a collective lack of knowledge about how the cultural functions of tribal life impact writing skills. Concludes with tentative suggestions for future research…

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)