For years, educators have approached college writing from three distinct pedagogies: composition studies, basic writing, and ESL. But now as these classrooms have diversified, mixed, and blended, separated pedagogies are no longer effective. In other words, these three fields (each with its own journals and conferences) have the same common…

Many basic writers, who are virtually unable to create a coherent paragraph, are nonetheless capable of presenting orally well-constructed narratives of depth and feeling. Thus, teachers must try to get students to harness the strength of their oral abilities to improve their writing skills, and Kenneth Burke's pentad may provide a key. Burke's…

Poststructural theory grapples with the hiddenness and complexity of oppression by questioning Western understandings of the self as a unitary, self-created, autonomous, essentialist entity. Feminist psychologists have shown that autonomy as a measure of maturity implies that women will never "grow up" because women's lives tend to be…

Relates experiences of three colleagues who organized the panel "Confronting Class in and out of the Classroom" at a Conference on Basic Writing workshop. Suggests social class has been ignored in composition studies; neglect appears to be ending; neglect must end; and instructors' own class histories must be understood and accepted…

Examines a curious incident of racial tension in which an Asian teacher's approach to teaching writing became a subject of heated debate among white and black students. Probes the causes of tension within the class. (TB)

Foregrounds issues of race, ethnicity, and education, and ties together two important issues in teaching basic writing: how social and pedagogical issues in higher education shape possibilities for bicultural students' writings, and how these students can use their developing sense of literacy and their texts to explore identity. Discusses…

Argues that basic writing students need incremental assignment sequences to experience success in writing and to develop their abilities to write about abstract concepts. Describes a four-part sequence of writing assignments moving from observing to narrowing to generalizing to theorizing. (RS)

Compares White and African-American basic writers' texts produced during districtwide holistic writing assessments. Shows that White basic writers differ little from African-American basic writers, although African-Americans tend to use a stronger personal voice and drop standard word ending. Concludes that dialect is not the key issue. (MG)

Asserts that the renewed interest in rhetoric, evident throughout the professional discourse of English studies, is having a salutary effect on the theory and practice of the teaching of composition and basic writing. (MG)

Posits that basic writing serves a vital function by providing writing support for at-risk students and serves the needs of a growing student population that universities accept yet feel needs additional writing instruction. Concludes that the basic writing classroom is the most effective educational support for at-risk students and their writing.…

Suggests that educators have overemphasized the distinction between basic writers and academic culture while failing to underscore common ground between the two. Discusses the use of transportation and in-group metaphors that highlight differences between the groups. Identifies journalistic reading and positive high school writing experience as…

Argues that teaching reading and writing is not a matter of correcting errors or teaching the five-paragraph essay. Claims that it is instead a process of interdependence between the public and private, the individual and the group. Calls for a recognition of the role of interpretation in all meaning-making. (HB)

Describes the effects of two prewriting strategies for the generation and storage of ideas (external storage and heuristic) on freshman English students' compositions in honors and basic writing classes. Both honors and remedial students produced the best essays when writing under conditions closely approximating their usual prewriting behavior.…

Describes and discusses the Rio Grande Holistic Scale (a grading scale developed at the Rio Grande Campus of Austin Community College). Notes that the scale has been so successful that it now undergirds the entire basic writing program, crystallizing student thinking about the process of writing, unifying grading criteria, informing course…

Draws an extended analogy between what composition instructors do in the classroom and the process of religious witnessing and conversion. Describes a process of conversion in the context of an antifoundationalist writing class pedagogy. (HB)