Many developmental writing courses in colleges focus on teaching students isolated skills, with little emphasis on how such skills are applicable to the actual process of writing. This article focuses on capturing the perspectives of students enrolled in a developmental writing course designed around an explicit process-oriented pedagogy. The…

While a thematic approach to teaching is not a novel idea, the specific needs of the developmental writer and a diverse student body can find the continuity of a theme especially beneficial, and the theme of fear has proven particularly successful. The typical developmental composition course at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University includes a…

Dominant perspectives of basic writers' self-sponsored literacies tend to overlook the important roles such activities can play in literate development. Drawn from texts, interviews, and participant-observations collected during a five-year study, this article continues the examination of the relationship between one writer's curricular and…

Writing processes and writing skills are highly compatible, but only if "writing skills" are defined as genuinely helpful learning strategies rather than prescriptive techniques or isolated forms and rules. Increased skill is a product of meaningful practice, not prescriptive instructions or isolated drills. In the present context, the…

This article examines some of the tensions and contradictions between the process-oriented, learning-centered pedagogy commonly associated with basic writing and the product-based, performance-centered moment mandated by writing-for-the-community varieties of service learning. Because end-of-term "writing-for" projects cannot provide students with…

Designed to be part of a basic reading and writing course for adult and teenage students, this skill book teaches the name and one sound for each letter in the alphabet plus the writing of small and capital letters and numerals. The skill book also lays an essential foundation in word attack and comprehension skills which will be mastered in…

Designed to give adult and teenage students additional practice in listening to, speaking, reading, and writing the patterns of English presented in "Laubach Way to Reading: Skill Book 1," this workbook gives practice in 14 skill areas, all of which are important in mastering English. The workbook includes exercises on singular and…

Analysis of the use of the skills model to teach basic writing to nontraditional English language learners in community college points out barriers to this approach, including wide variation in linguistic, cultural, and educational background and inability to help students transition to academic discourse. An academic socialization model using…