Analyzes two students' responses to a self-diagnostic writing prompt. Finds that the essays are effective in allowing the reader to perform an accurate "diagnosis" and in allowing students the opportunity to articulate their own interests and concerns about their writing. (RS)

Describes a two-year study to determine the relationship between initial evaluations of student placement essays and progress in a developmental writing course sequence at a midsize university. Finds a positive relationship and presents the methodology as a model for assessment, citing its adaptability, minimal costs, and improved program…

Examines the extent to which asking 20 entry-level and 19 basic-level college writing students to articulate their initial intentions for writing facilitated the identification of 3 kinds of instructional problems students face in moving from intentions to texts. Suggests that students with useful initial intentions write more effective texts than…

Relates how the author came into a generally contentious classroom of eleventh-grade developmental English students and how it became a place of cooperative reading and writing and critiquing through a democratic approach and a three-week project in which students wrote a fictional story via letter writing. Notes student's involvement and…

Describes a study of student writing completed in one basic writing program. Measures the effectiveness of individual papers written in the program's two-course sequence by rating each against a modified "primary-trait" scoring scale. Finds that students made gains in the trait areas examined. (EMH)

Shares the author's beliefs about the practice of teaching developmental writing in an attempt to get colleagues in other academic settings involved in a dialogue about the writing philosophies in their practices. Presents an interest in the beliefs and theories that form the foundation of what others do in their writing programs. (VWC)

Previous ethnographic pedagogical approaches in basic writing classrooms emphasized students' acculturation into academic discourse; however, teachers' critical reflection should also consider how exposure to students' experiences intervenes in and informs pedagogical practices. In this article, I argue that teachers should listen to their…

It has long been established that self-assessment and goal-setting are regular features of the writing process of experienced writers. It has also been demonstrated that students develop more power and control over their writing when they are encouraged to become their own evaluators. Therefore, to help beginning writers think and act more like…

A collaborative teaching model that replaces the hierarchical graduate teaching assistant (TA)/tutor structure can be used to train basic writing TAs with a pedagogy that stresses reflection and dialogue. Usually, new graduate students tutor for a semester in Basic Writing classrooms and then later move on to teach their own classes; in this case,…

This article reports on the survey "Remedial Education at Higher Education Institutions in Fall 1995," which was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. It is suggested that administrators and practitioners who deal with basic writing and other remedial programs will learn little about the nature of remedial efforts…

The most serious approaches to teaching basic writing in the last 20 years have been framed by the competing metaphors of growth and metaphors of initiation. The growth model pulled attention away from the forms of academic discourse and toward what students could and could not do as writers, and encouraged teachers to respect and work with the…

The report discusses the findings of a study on the reading and writing demands of college-level courses at Maryland's Charles County Community College (College of Southern Maryland as of July 1, 2000). The Language and Literature Department wanted to determine whether its developmental courses were actually preparing students for the reading and…

Unless questions about student performance and student retention can be answered and unless educators are proactive in finding and publicizing such information, basic writing programs cannot determine if what they are doing is working. Hard data, especially from underrepresented groups, is needed to support these programs. At Arizona State…

Presents two brief articles. Discusses the Conference on Basic Writing's (CBW) workshop, "Race, Class, and Culture in the Basic Writing Classroom" and how it came about. States that the theory and practice of mainstreaming was the center around which issues coalesced. Discusses the invisibility of class as a site of struggle and a place…

Considers why basic writers write in "phrases patched upon phrases." Examines how language is patterned and acquired to clarify a framework for teaching basic writers. States that speaking and writing, two different ways of organizing and presenting information, have different structures. Explores what cognitive psychology can say about…