Technical writing instructors lack a framework for evaluating pedagogical materials. One framework for classification divides the pedagogical materials into three groups: those locating their heuristics in form, context, and method. Formal pedagogies (the modes, sentence generation) can produce generic writing, separated from audience, purpose,…

Explores the assumptions underlying the use of composition textbooks based on nineteenth-century forms and modes of discourse: description, narration, exposition, and argumentation. Presents alternatives to this approach, developed from schema theory and developmental psychology. (HTH)

In a "College English" article, B. M. Kroll describes the educational and philosophical foundations of three perspectives on the teaching of writing: interventionism, maturationism, and interactionism. These three developmental perspectives offer a useful way of reviewing, evaluating, and classifying textbooks written for basic writers.…

The three papers collected in this document present opinions for and against the use of anthologies in introductory writing and literature classes at community colleges. The first paper, "College Students Must Read Book-Length Works," by Dallas E. Dillon, proposes that students, even non-traditional community college students, should be pushed to…

Asserts that most English departments are product oriented in their hiring and faculty evaluation, therefore the slow transition from product to process oriented writing instruction is not surprising. (SRT)

Intended for educational practitioners interested in basic skills instruction, the papers in the first section of this volume detail the progress that has been made in classroom research during the past decade and discusses three characteristics of effective teaching--teacher expectations, active teaching, and classroom management. The second…