Continuous revision policies provide sizable benefits to students, though one previously unexplored avenue of research is how such policies can help students develop a growth mindset. For the purposes of this article, a "continuous revision policy" is one in which students can revise their work on a rolling basis up until a predetermined…

This study examined the relationship between metacognitive revision and writing achievement in one instructor's developmental writing courses. Since American students often have had little strategic writing instruction in high school, they frequently come to college as non-proficient writers. By focusing on self-improvement rather than agonizing…

According to sociocultural theory (SCT), corrective feedback (CF) entails a negotiation process whereby writing instructors support second language (L2) writers in self-correction and provide a level of guidance needed for writers to actively engage in revision tasks (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994). Drawing on SCT, this collaborative self-study…

This article examines two course redesigns undertaken to improve student support, learning, and retention in the basic writing program at Oakland University, a doctoral research university in southeast Michigan, where support for developmental writers has fluctuated dramatically between nurture and neglect over the past fifty years. However,…

This design research project developed and evaluated curriculum for developmental writing classes in community colleges. The core of the curriculum was self-regulated strategy instruction, which has been shown to be effective with adolescents who are struggling as writers. In the curriculum, students learned strategies for planning, drafting, and…

Critical analysis of the literacy narrative assignment within the context of the other genres in a basic writing course complicates understandings of the political import of the assignment. While several advocates of the literacy narrative have argued that it has the power of what Jean-François Lyotard has called petits récits, the authors argue…

In order to better understand how to use assessment productively in the basic writing classroom, I asked the question "How do basic writers perceive the assessment process?" The research reported on in this dissertation led to the conclusion that basic writers at Dona Ana Community College perceive and value each part of the assessment…

Multiple-choice tests of punctuation and usage are used throughout the United States to assess the writing skills of new community college students in order to place them in either a basic writing course or first-year composition. To determine whether using the COMPASS Writing Test (CWT) is a valid placement at a community college, student test…

This article examines the challenges of teaching basic writing today as students come to the classroom with the basic fluency of digital natives but have the same need for learning writing and critical thinking skills that has traditionally marked basic writers. While most basic writers are adept at accessing information digitally, they are not as…

Considers how the revising skills of basic writing students improve when they receive both inductive and deductive teacher feedback. Finds that students who received inductive feedback changed their largest percent of errors when given oral conferences and students who received deductive feedback changed their smallest number of errors when given…

A writing center tutor's experience with a basic composition student named Tonja, while limited to seven tutoring sessions and, in the tutor's words, not amenable to claims of universality, reveals indications of the growth of the student as a writer, and the growth of the tutor as well. Discussions between the writer and the tutor were a learning…

Argues that a computer-integrated classroom for basic writers can build community and enhance peer response. (TB)

Notes that online writing environments can lead basic writers to focus on the instrumental nature of language and technology, construe writing as performance, and see revision as error correction. Explores computer use as an aid in the process of composition in a one-credit computer lab course. Finds that basic writers face significant…

In order to become empowered and autonomous writers, students need to learn self-evaluation techniques to help them revise their writing instead of simply editing it. Basic writers and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writers especially need concrete aids that can guide them, at least in the initial stages of learning, to write in a mode in…

Reviews research on revising as it relates to the case study of the revising processes of a basic writing student. Shares insights into the complexities of revising and suggests possibilities for more productive teacher response to student writing. (TB)