This article examines some of the tensions and contradictions between the process-oriented, learning-centered pedagogy commonly associated with basic writing and the product-based, performance-centered moment mandated by writing-for-the-community varieties of service learning. Because end-of-term "writing-for" projects cannot provide students with…

U.S. high school graduates for whom the home language is not English run the risk of inadequate preparation for the rigors of higher education. Whether this poor preparation is the result of disruptions caused by the transition to a new country/language/culture, or of a watered-down high school curriculum that reacts to language error but does not…

In this description of a learning community for "at-risk" and basic writing students at the University of Wyoming, I outline the reasons our students resist academic writing prior to their entry into college--reasons largely unrelated to typical perceptions of at-risk students as "lazy" or intellectually less capable. For…