Though practitioners in Basic Writing studies often refer to "the politics of remediation," there are few pedagogical models that address how to teach this facet of professional life to graduate students and emerging professionals. Most often, this knowledge is transmitted through storytelling, namely narrative-based accounts of Basic…

This article explores one basic writer's evolution as he moves from the lowest level of developmental English at a community college to graduate with a Bachelor's degree. Combining personal narrative, essay excerpts, and textual analysis, this piece aims to expand the borders of scholarship in composition studies to include basic writers as…

Mina Shaughnessy continues to exert powerful influences over Basic Writing practices, discourses and pedagogy thirty-five years after her death: Basic Writing remains in some ways trapped by Shaughnessy's legacy in what Min-Zhan Lu labeled as essentialism, accommodationism and linguistic innocence. High-stakes writing tests, a troubling hallmark…

Uses the University of Washington as a case study illustrating the double bind basic writing programs are caught up in at public research institutions on the West Coast. Claims the university's Educational Opportunity Program writing sequence is at risk in the face of the anti-affirmative action movement, Initiative 200. (NH)

Traces the uses of the "urban mission" trope both nationally and locally as it pertains to the history of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Educational Assistance Program. Maintains that educational histories are important because they explain how political dynamics determine who will be basic writers and how many will appear…

Argues that the evaluation of a basic writing program can demonstrate a program's effectiveness and can be useful in opening up a dialog among the instructors. Describes an evaluation program that combines a variety of writing assessments (essays, a multiple-choice editing test, and portfolios assessment) that provide a comprehensive examination…

Examines Marilyn Sternglass's "Time to Know Them" in light of the troublesome trend in decreased funding for remedial programs that is emerging in colleges across the nation. Uncovers a complex network of factors contributing to the development of students as complex thinkers and mature writers. Paints a clear picture of students struggling but…

Applies Aristotelian rhetorical theory to the treatment of basic writing problems, noting that classical methods of teaching are still valid--and sometimes used--today. (RL)

Traces the evolution of the basic writing program at the University of Louisville, as related by its first seven directors. Concludes that pedagogical and political strategies that worked took advantage of the academic and student community around them; unsuccessful ideas were those imposed without consideration of local context. (SR)

Although basic writing has become a strong independent field with professionally sanctioned ways of making knowledge, what Stephen North refers to as "lore" still maintains a strong foundation in the field. This lore is often grounded in the belief in a linear paradigm of learning, and is to some degree fostered by traditional conceptions of basic…

Sketches the historical movement from orality to literacy that Walter J. Ong theorizes, applying it to basic writing instruction for open admissions students. Suggests that teachers first concentrate on narrative and rhetoric to develop writing about particularized details, saving sentence control exercises such as sentence combining for…

Separate articles describe courses designed to teach basic writing to academically underprepared college students. Six courses are described: a program which teaches students how to reason correctly, on the premise that students cannot write if they cannot think; a course which teaches academically underprepared black students how language…