Terminology has historically played a pivotal role within the field of developmental education and learning assistance. The language used to describe the field's people or define the work of the field is much more than mere semantics, though, especially as field-outsiders have exerted power over the field's identity through politics, policy, and…

The purpose of this study was to better understand the perceptions and experiences of students in a learning community that incorporated culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) into its curriculum. The field site of this instrumental case study was a community college learning community situated in a Hispanic Serving Institution in Texas. Data from…

This forum piece discusses the relevance of insights from the field of developmental education in terms of the disruption of face-to-face learning and the important implications on the notions of college readiness for those whose educational experiences have been altered unexpectedly. The concept of college readiness, now more than ever, should be…

Despite increasing enrollments of foreign-born students in US community colleges, extant research on serving the needs of linguistic minority (LM) learners in higher education is decidedly scarce. When LM learners enter post-secondary settings, they simultaneously inherit the burden of securing the academic resources needed to navigate college…

The availability of corpora has greatly strengthened the possibilities of identifying high-frequency lexical items in a more systematic and objective manner than has typically been used for vocabulary instruction. This article adopts a corpus-based approach to accommodate the vocabulary instructional needs of students enrolled in university…

This forum article discusses using disciplinary literacy approaches for reading literary text targeting interpretation as a goal. Disciplinary literacy approaches make the assumption that literacy tasks and processes differ based upon the demands, goals, and epistemology of each discipline and that identifying these differences is key toward…

Increasing classroom attendance rates is important to improving success in developmental mathematics courses. Our results indicated that absence rates begin to increase after the first exam. Furthermore, the number of absences gradually increased throughout the semester and a higher proportion of class meeting time was missed in classes that met…

Postsecondary institutions need well-prepared instructors to equip students for changing economic and social realities, instructors who are also trained to address the learning needs of the many students who enter college unprepared to learn and persevere in a program of study. Unlike teacher preparation for kindergarten through twelfth grade, a…

The Learning Resource Center at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, provides tutoring laboratories that are required for developmental reading, writing, and math courses. This article reviews the processes used to plan and determine the effectiveness of the tutoring laboratories, including logic models, student learning outcomes, and the results of…

Herrington & Curtis (2000), building on Goldblatt's (1995) idea of the "sponsoring institution," (p. 48) showed students' need for a personal sense of connection with a "sponsoring discourse" when writing in the academy. As Herrington and Curtis, as well as Goldblatt point out, these "sponsoring discourses" often come from outside the academy.…

Proposes guidelines for associations to elect honorary Fellows in Learning Assistance and Developmental Education. Includes criteria for education, experience, and specific contributions through publishing, research, and practice in evidence of the recognition of the nominee as an authority in the field. Invites readers to comment. (RS)

Although the issue of redefining the developmental education profession has been a constant in its history, the urgency to reexamine it has never been greater. As practice advances and changes, so must the language to describe it. A reexamination can be an opportunity to transform the work of the field, expand its borders, and redefine its…

Notes that the effectiveness of tutoring as an intervention is controversial. Reviews research on college tutoring practices. Concludes that existing research provides some support for tutoring but does not address the issue of whether tutored students are eventually able to perform as independent learners. (RS)

Notes that as student enrollment in colleges and universities has increased, there has simultaneously been a proliferation of developmental skills programs. Presents some empirical evidence of the effectiveness of three reading skills courses. Suggests that underprepared readers' success in college is directly related to taking and passing a…

Presents Part II of a two-part article on developmental students' self-regulatory deficiencies. Suggests four teaching guidelines for selecting specific activities that structure and promote self-regulation, based on documented self-regulation deficiencies or needs in the areas of: preparing, organizing, monitoring, and evaluating. (SR)