Responds to a call for proof of the effectiveness of the basic writing program at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, and documents a marked increase in the success rate of basic writers after the program had shifted from a traditional product centered course to a process course. (RS)

Argues that graduate schools are overproducing literary scholars and underproducing composition and rhetoric scholars, who carry the increasingly bulk of the work in English departments, and examines, in detail, this split between rhetoric and literary scholars. (SRT)

The use of student writing journals in the college classroom is the focus of a conversation between two writing instructors at Brigham Young University in Hawaii. Brigham Young-Hawaii has a student body that represents more than 50 different nations, with foreign students at about 40%. Both instructors teach classes with high percentages of…

Currently the overall philosophy of many basic writing programs is one of inclusion rather than exclusion. First-year students are seen as part of the writing community, instead of continuing the mindset where students were sent off to "take this remedial class and then you'll be ready for English 101." At Arizona State University (ASU)…

Drawing from 10 widely used freshman writing textbooks, this article demonstrates the problem of implicitness existing in regard to 2 notions central to writing instruction in the United States: "voice" and "audience." The article enumerates ways in which textbook presentations of these concepts disadvantage second-language…

Investigates the potential value of bibliometric analysis of freshman English research paper bibliographies to assess student behavior in terms of skills and resources addressed in library instruction sessions. Suggests that students' bibliographies provide a flexible, time-efficient assessment method for the documentation of student library use.…

Describes the use of local area networks (LANs) in basic college composition instruction. Offers examples of interchanges between student writers and peers reacting to compositions. Argues for freer student use of classroom networks in open discourse, as excessive limits on network use eviscerate its potential. (SG)

Examines internal and external factors which affect the way women reentering higher education learn and write. Finds several constant internal factors: sense of inferiority among peers; inability to concentrate; sense of guilt; feeling out of place among younger students; fatigue; and doubt. Finds that positive internal factors outweigh negative…

Identifies student misunderstanding of teacher criticism and a lack of context for that criticism as problems in composition classes. Describes how an instructor provided taped comments on student papers to make criticisms clearer to students. Details how the procedure was used in guiding one student's successive drafts. (SG)

Studies the effects of word processing on the composing processes of six basic writers. Concludes that quantity and quality of revisions are not likely to increase, that word processing initially causes many interventions in composing, and that better writers are more likely to use word processing programs in advantageous ways. (RS)

Reports a study of the initial effects of word processing on essay-writing performance and on writing apprehension. Concludes that college freshmen using word processing showed greater progress in writing performance from pre to post essay tests than did those using traditional methods, but they did not show significant difference in writing…

Considers the national curricular practices in college English departments, specifically with regard to "service" courses. Provides excerpts of data from the Modern Language Association's national survey of 92 English departments. (HB)

Discusses how a five-year longitudinal study of 61 basic writers suggest little correlation between the first-year course and overall success in college. Notes the much lower long-term success rate for African-American basic writers who passed the basic writing course. Suggests that reading is a stronger determinant of college success for at-risk…

Discusses principles about writing instruction that emerged from mainstreaming basic writers in first-year composition at California State University, Chico: (1) students learn college writing by being in the context of college writing, not some other context; and (2) literacy learning does not come in discreet levels. Describes how writers in…

An ethnographic study of a freshman composition class at the Universidad Autonoma de Santa Domingo (Dominican Republic) examined classroom practices and behaviors of the professor and students as students learned to improve their native-language reading and writing skills. Differences from U.S. classrooms are discussed in terms of the needs of…