Latinx students are a growing demographic in postsecondary English classes, but the majority of research on them and on the faculty who teach them is based in the US Southwest at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. The purpose of this study is to describe some of the pedagogical and extracurricular considerations of faculty who teach Latinx students in…

I revisit the so-called Illinois Decision of 1955, which eliminated basic writing from the University of Illinois Rhetoric Program and caused a chain of similar programmatic actions on other campuses nationwide. I contend that reviewing and archiving the Illinois Decision as a locally specific act with multiple actors besides WPA Charles Roberts…

This article examines Yale's "Awkward Squad" of "basic" writers between 1920 and 1960. Using archival materials that illustrate the socioeconomic conditions of this early, "pre-Shaughnessy" site of remedial writing instruction, I argue for a re-definition of "basic" in composition studies using local, institutional values rather than generic…

Explores how insights of the 1970s are being lost, namely, those about why and how the academy thinks about basic writing and students deemed "illiterate" or "remedial." Examines a discourse that the author calls Basic Writing and how it has marginalized basic writing courses, teachers, and students. (TB)

Foregrounds issues of race, ethnicity, and education, and ties together two important issues in teaching basic writing: how social and pedagogical issues in higher education shape possibilities for bicultural students' writings, and how these students can use their developing sense of literacy and their texts to explore identity. Discusses…

Describes a writing studio program that replaces the standard basic writing course by offering special assistance to certain students enrolled in mainstream writing classes. Examines how writing programs have been constructed to include such categories as "basic writer" and how students, teachers, and administrators can get beyond such…

Identifies in the formation of United States college composition courses a tacit policy of English monolingualism based on a chain of reifications of languages and social identity. Shows this policy continuing in assumptions underlying arguments for and against English Only legislation and basic writers. (SG)

Argues for a progressive version of mainstreaming remedial writers through a focus on one student who benefited from a two-semester course responsive to diverse language and cultural backgrounds. Discusses the political dimensions of mainstreaming which are an indelible aspect of writing program administration. (TB)

Describes the difficulties of defining basic writers and basic writing. Argues that Michel Foucault's concept of the "author function" is applicable to academic and literary discourse and shows how it serves to organize curriculum and define the object of study in English departments. (HB)

Discusses the experiences in working with the basic writing curriculum presented in "Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts: Theory and Methods for a Reading and Writing Course." Discusses reasons for selecting "Facts" as a model for the basic writing program and the rationale for making modifications that renders it more applicable…

Personal narrative embeds the expertise of subordinated groups in stories that seldom translate into public debate. The authors describe a community writing project in which welfare recipients used personal narratives to enter into the public record their tacit and frequently discounted knowledge. The research illustrates the difficulties and…

Examines phonological transfer in developmental student writing (spelling or word configurations that represent what the writer hears). Examines two discourse features--"by strings" and "topic/comment" sentence structures. Analyzes a developmental writing African American student's essay, demonstrating the power and tension in…

Evaluates a three-year pilot project in mainstreaming basic writers at the City University of New York. Suggests that the social and political contexts of a project need to be taken into account in the earliest stages of evaluation. Claims the empirically verifiable account that researchers sought was compromised by the socio-political forces…

Studies the availability of writing programs at 2-year colleges. Reports that virtually all of the 236 schools that replied to a survey offer composition and most offer such courses as basic and creative writing. States that fewer schools offer advanced or sophomore composition. Concludes that both class sizes and teaching loads exceed…

Looks at how teaching basic writing is shaped by the material conditions of teachers working in those programs. Documents reactions of two writing programs on two different campuses to a 1991 statewide directive calling for the removal of all "remedial" courses from state campuses. Describes the programs' transformations after the directive, and…