This article argues that mid-1970s discourses of literacy crisis prompted a problematic shift toward color-blind ideologies of language and literacy within both disciplinary and institutional discussions of writing instruction for "high-risk" minority students. It further argues that this shift has continuing import for contemporary…

"Branding" a university in an effort to attract student applicants and alumni dollars is increasingly commonplace. The history of the Dartmouth Writing Clinic attests to the ways student writers represent an institution's brand and provides a troubling picture of a world in which under-prepared students are branded out of existence. (Contains 8…

Suggests that college remedial English courses should deal with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and coherence by means of reading aloud, dictation, and imitation. (DD)

Explains the City University of New York's reversal of its 1970 Open Admissions Policy and discusses the ramifications of that reversal. (NH)

Presents the conclusions of a study of the reading and writing skills and strategies of 92 remedial English students at Ohio State University and offers recommendations for teaching remedial English. (DD)

Explores the complexity of the concept "specificity," then looks at some of the misinterpretations made by developmental writers to illustrate how developmental writing students have difficulty moving from abstract to concrete. (HTH)

Examines remediation as a social construct, as the product of perceptions and beliefs about literacy and learning. Illustrates how inaccurate and limiting notions of learners as being somehow cognitively defective can be created and played out in the classroom. Details the interactive processes that contribute to one student's being defined as…

Explores three current approaches to describing what happens to basic writers when they enter college. Seeks a more comprehensive approach that takes into account the differences in dialect, discourse conventions, and ways of thinking, through the notion of a language community, and W. Perry's developmental model. (HTH)

Describes three areas in which speech and writing diverge sharply and urges teachers to free remedial students from the constraints of their spoken language. (DD)

From an analysis of both students themes and several published text-workbooks the author concludes that these books fail to meet the needs of a considerable number of students. (MM)

Defines basic writing as a kind of writing students produce as they learn. Examines techniques for error analysis, arguing for one technique in particular--the study of students' oral reconstructions of texts. (RL)

The research cited suggests separate language materials are not needed for college level black and white students. (JH)

Suggests the value of a prewriting sheet which asks remedial students to specify an occasion, audience, and purpose for each of their one-paragraph papers. (DD)