Identifies three common "channels" through which student-writers are inducted into the critical thinking practice via advanced writing courses. Argues that critical thinking is a socio-cognitive practice drawing on cultural norms shared by mainstream students, a process not open to students of English as a Second Language. (100…

This article discusses the resistance of many students who have taken Advanced Placement English in high school to college freshman-year English composition requirements. Concepts of adherence and opposition to authority are applied to help understand these students. Recommendations for helping these students develop their thinking and writing are…

Offers reflections and descriptions of three teaching associates on their experiences in the pilot year of the Guilford Technical Community College Faculty-in-Training Program. Discusses beginning the program, the varied student populations, faculty involvement, and program components (including the observation process, writing center, distance…

Describes an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) freshman composition course in which students read a mystery novel, "The Alienist," and researched and wrote about its historical setting. Reactions to the course are described by the students, who were experiencing content-based instruction for the first time. Activities applicable to…

A study investigated university students' perceptions of the performance of peer evaluation groups in English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) writing instruction, and of their own performance within the group. Subjects were 45 Chinese freshmen in their first semester in the Mass Communications Department at a Taipei university (Taiwan), with 6 years…

Research has found evidence for the validity of remedial and developmental English courses in preparing students to pass freshman-level English courses. To determine whether similar validity could be demonstrated for remedial and developmental English courses at Tennessee's Walters State Community College, the percentage of former remedial and…

When she began teaching, one instructor thought everything had to come from her. It took a couple of years before she understood that what students themselves bring to the experience is instrumental--even vital--in helping them connect with what happens in the classroom. In their freshman composition journals, students produced writing based on…

To determine how much electronic writing-analysis programs can offer college students and how valuable computerized text actually is, nine college student essays and nine professional essays were analyzed using text editors. The student essays (three each rated "superior,""average," and "failed") and the professional…

In spring 1984, the Language Arts Department of University College, University of Cincinnati, began requiring all third-term Freshman English students to pass an exit test in order to receive credit for their final English course. The exit exam, which was part of a joint effort with the other five English Departments within the University,…

Poetry was used in a college English class to teach figurative language, connotation, denotation, and the need for close attention to vocabulary. However, students were often bored by traditional poetry. Using computer programs like "Compupoem,""Poetrywriter,""Lifesongs," and "Haikuku," students were introduced to computer poetry and created their…

Focusing on the teacher in the problems basic writers experience, a study analyzed the written interaction between a teacher and basic writers, culled from a larger ethnographic study of one freshman composition class. The purpose was to characterize the mode of discourse within a communicative exchange called "theme-ing," which begins…

A study was conducted at the University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland) in the Fall 1985 15-week semester to test the effects of advanced knowledge of grading criteria on students' writing skills and attitudes in a Freshman Composition class. A holistic grading scale, which was distributed to students as a checklist for revising writing…

For an educator who teaches English in a multicultural setting, the best way to accommodate marked features of African-American vernacular English (AAVE) in black students' freshman essays is to preserve these features in teaching students narrative writings and guide African-American students to avoid these features in expository (academic)…

Use of writing exercises as an active learning tool at the later stages of the learning process is discussed, focusing on written self-evaluation as a means for making sense of experience. Examples of the technique in pharmacy management and first-year composition courses are offered. Ways to incorporate the technique into the syllabus are…

Developed for the freshman writing program at University of Southern California (USC), Project Jefferson has two goals: to develop a model of computer-based instruction that includes the use of research tools and an interface that can be used with courseware in other disciplines; and to develop a researcher's notebook that permits easy access to…