This article recounts some of the motivations, hurdles, and successes the Cuyamaca ESL Department in San Diego encountered while transforming its curriculum to an accelerated model. The college discovered that the new program, while challenging, increased the success and rate of passing among its language learners and improved the quality of their…

The paper is theoretically grounded in Cultural Historical Activity Theory, which holds that human development is founded within participation in social and cultural practices. In particular, the teaching of literacy is shaped not only by the curriculum as designated by policy makers and the institution in which it is located, but also by the…

Describes the writing lab of the Glenbrook, Illinois, School District. Discusses the transition time between the old and new teaching systems, and offers ways to optimize this time. (PRA)

Presents results from a survey of colleges and universities on writing across the curriculum (WAC) programs around the country--how they develop, the components that comprise them, and the premises that underlie them. Concludes that the WAC movement is a success. (HTH)

Illustrating that the Bread Loaf Grants Program is cost-effective and beneficial, this collection presents reports and articles by and about teachers and students involved in staff and curriculum development projects funded by the program. The collection concludes that the projects demonstrate that literacy flourishes in settings where children…

Describes one teacher's experience of teaching composition theory on the graduate level at a Canadian university. Explains that there are only two rhetoric and composition programs in Canada and that, generally, Canadian universities have been slow to make the transition from neocolonialism to postcolonialism. (TB)

This article is a descriptive account of a professional learning community established among university professors, university teacher candidates, a school district instructional supervisor, the high school principal, a high school literacy coordinator, and teachers of a Mid-Atlantic high school in the United States. This learning community…

Genesee Community College in Batavia, New York, adopted James Kinneavy's aims of discourse theory as the basis of its composition program. The program is a two-semester course for students who intend to transfer to four-year colleges. In a comparable nontransfer sequence, the first semester doubles as a remedial course for ill-prepared transfer…

Poor writing among students is not necessarily a function of poor learning, but rather may be a function of poor teaching, and poor writing instruction will continue as long as English remains an undisciplined profession. Examples of the profession's lack of discipline include curricula devised by individual teachers, part-time teachers…

Describes North Carolina's model of community college faculty development that coordinates the improvement of curricula and instruction with professional development activities. Discusses the strategy of basing projects at individual colleges while targeting single curriculum areas statewide and lists curriculum improvement projects since 1985.…

Describes the process of designing professional writing courses in the community college curriculum. Discusses the incorporation of computer-assisted composition, reader-centered writing, adult learning styles, interviewing for information, project management, and team design into the curriculum. (MM)

Describes the Language Development Project--the first national curriculum project in language education in Australia. (HOD)

An Oregon school implemented a program of journal writing in grades 5 to 8 and evaluated its effects upon the language arts curriculum and students' writing ability. Each of the 11 teachers in the project decided the amount of time to allocate to journal writing and the routines to establish, although all followed certain guidelines on…

Focusing on English instruction for mainstreamed learning disabled (LD) high school students, this paper surveys and interprets the literature on the subject, examines specific teaching methods and student study skills that have worked in this area, and reviews the English program proposed by Daniel Fader. Specifically, sections discuss the…

Flexibility and change have characterized the 3-year history of the English curriculum-enrichment component of the Biomedical Sciences Preparatory Program (BioPrep)--a program that stresses science for rural high school students but includes the importance of writing and communication skills. In the program's first year the curriculum team set out…