This case study examined postsecondary students' participation within a developmental literacy course, Reading 100. The study involved five weeks of observations and two student interviews. Findings indicate students utilized oral participation when they felt comfortable as a way to demonstrate interest and keep class moving forward while students…

The near constant use of technology today has led to widespread changes in the way literacy is imagined, used, and theorized. Since college students spend a significant amount of time using and being involved with various acts of technology, there is no doubt that their literate lives are changing and adapting as well. Although most college-aged…

Developmental reading instructors are increasingly pressured to include real-world content in their curriculum to bring contextualized teaching and learning to life. The purpose of this practitioner-focused article is to tie knowledge about contextualized teaching and learning with classroom application techniques. We present a framework that…

The following study is part of a larger study exploring reading identity in students who were placed into a mandatory developmental reading class because of low scores on college placement exams. Sociocultural theories of learning framed the qualitative study. Although the larger study addressed two overarching questions related to reading…

This qualitative research study was aimed at examining the experiences and perceptions of students at a four-year college in New York City who were enrolled in an integrated reading and writing course designed to help students connect the literacy skills learned in the course to other contexts. Focusing on three students enrolled in the course,…

Race plays a major role in the lived experiences of African Americans. Consequently, race significantly impacts the identities and educational experiences of African American college students--many of whom require developmental reading courses. These courses, which are gateway courses in higher education, should address race along with reading…

In this study, we investigated the self-efficacy beliefs and sources of self-efficacy among first-year college students placed in developmental reading courses. Students enrolled in developmental reading were compared to students who were not placed in developmental reading courses in terms of self-efficacy in various contexts and sources of…

Two experiments were conducted with developmental education students to investigate the impact of a contextualized intervention focusing on written summarization and other reading and writing skills. In experiment 1 (n = 322), greater gain was found for intervention than comparison participants on three summarization measures: proportion of main…

Two studies examined the short- and long-term effects of teaching strategic reading to first-year college students in a stand-alone course. In study one, developmental readers (N=36) learned PLAN, a strategic reading heuristic. Significant pretest-posttest growth was found using cognitive, metacognitive, and affective measures, though no gain was…

Reports an evaluation of factual study questions as a component of an introductory psychology course taught to developmental students with a computer-assisted, mastery learning teaching method based on Keller's (1968) Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). Recommends that instructors of introductory courses, especially those that serve…

The purpose of this research was to examine possible outcomes of developmental students' critical thinking and motivation to read when the online learning community, WebCT, was implemented. My role, in addition to instructor, was that of participant-observer. I implemented WebCT tools, such as discussion board and chat, over a four-month period…

Interviews nine college developmental reading students regarding reading and metacognition, study skills, notetaking, motivation and attitudes, and family literacy history. Finds students had weak reading, study, and notetaking skills although they got fairly good grades. Reveals numerous differences between quantitative and qualitative results.…