Describes the integration of computers into the writing practices of a remedial English class in an urban high school. Analyzes the year-long written work of six students in the class. Concludes that the teacher's structuring of instruction had the greatest impact on both student writing and the ways computers entered into that writing. (HB)

Describes a writing project developed in Alaska, called the Chukchi News and Information System, in which basic writing students (primarily Eskimos, Indians, and Aleuts) are given an outlet to publish their work in various periodicals across Alaska. Argues that such outlets provide students with valuable real world writing experiences. (HB)

Discusses the state of access to higher education among disenfranchised students, considering the systemic attack on economically impoverished students in higher education. Describes a group of students enrolled in the University of Minnesota General College under a pilot welfare reform program which was terminated abruptly for political reasons.…

Analyzes methodologies used by those embroiled in the "mainstreaming debate" (whether a basic writing curriculum is the best way to help entering college students). Finds methodological confusion leading to monologues going in circles rather than constructive dialectic. Argues that researchers ought to consider the evidence and arguments of those…

Notes that the debate about required composition courses like Basic Writing has taken a new urgency, given recent decisions and inclinations to eliminate such courses at four-year colleges in City University of New York and elsewhere. Revisits that debate (some of which occurred in this same journal in the 1990s) and argues for movement beyond a…

Evaluates a three-year pilot project in mainstreaming basic writers at the City University of New York. Suggests that the social and political contexts of a project need to be taken into account in the earliest stages of evaluation. Claims the empirically verifiable account that researchers sought was compromised by the socio-political forces…

Presents an anecdotal inspection of the theory, classroom environment, and application of an experiment with hypertext and developmental writers in a computer-mediated classroom. Notes that the classroom focused on the maternal practice of storytelling and conversation--two alternative modes of learning associated with feminist concerns. Suggests…

Notes that online writing environments can lead basic writers to focus on the instrumental nature of language and technology, construe writing as performance, and see revision as error correction. Explores computer use as an aid in the process of composition in a one-credit computer lab course. Finds that basic writers face significant…

Suggests a prewriting activity that encompasses peer questioning to help basic writing students come up with topics for papers. Contends teachers should explain their expectations to the students and gives a homework assignment to either write a letter to their "future" children or devise a "life tree." Describes questioning in…

Presents a qualitative research study which thematically analyzes e-mail conversations exchanged by graduate students in a developmental writing program. Focuses on the relationship between these teachers and their students and addresses key issues in basic writing theory and practice. Suggests that graduate students can offer a unique perspective…

Researchers use images of outsiders and insiders to distinguish basic writers from students more proficient with the demands of academic discourse and academic culture. For example, David Bartholomae examines how outsiders rely on unelaborated commonplaces to define their interpretations while insiders elaborate and work against their…

The author's therapeutic experience of writing a book about a personal tragedy led her to investigate the fledgling interdisciplinary field of Writing and Healing to see if it holds implications for the teaching of basic writing and also to revisit the debate about personal versus academic writing in the introductory composition class. The result…

I conducted teacher research in a basic writing computer classroom to discover what two basic writers brought to the computer classroom that could complicate their interactions with technology and their ability to write with computers during our class. My discussion is twofold: First, I explore the writers' differing attitudes towards computers,…

Basic writing has played a large role in the history and institutional identity of the City University of New York (CUNY). From the Open Admissions era of Mina Shaughnessy to the present day, "remedial courses" at CUNY have been revised in response to different colleges' missions, curricular initiatives, university policies, and public…

More than ten years have passed since the widely publicized debate about personal and academic writing that played out in the 1990s between Peter Elbow and David Bartholomae. But the question of the relative merits of these two different types of writing for student writers continues to be an issue of concern for teachers of composition,…