The treatment of a research paper as an isolated utterance within a composition classroom is problematic in that such papers may fail to encourage transfer of writing knowledge. In this essay, I argue that a research paper's failure to work as a utterance situated within a conversation--as critiqued through a framework constructed by Mikhail…

This article discusses our university's attempt to analyze whether our system of First Year Writing placement serves the needs of our diverse student body. The theory behind Directed Self Placement (DSP) is appealing, so our program adopted a modified version of it, and after several years, decided to evaluate it quantitatively. The authors, a…

This dissertation examines how the interests of feminist composition theory, digital media, and new literacies studies intersect within the research context of the first-year writing classroom. Specifically, this project examines what happens to the "contact zone" (Pratt 1991; Bizzell 1994) of first-year composition when we introduce digital…

Andrea Lunsford and Karen Lunsford conclude "Mistakes Are a Fact of Life: A National Comparative Study," a discussion of their research project exploring patterns of formal grammar and usage error in first-year writing, with an invitation to "conduct a local version of this study." The author was eager to accept their invitation; learning and…

An emphasis on visual rhetoric can be incorporated into a variety of classrooms. This article illustrates teaching visual rhetoric to first-year composition students via interpretation and analysis through a trip to a local art museum for the first essay assignment and through an exploration of photography for the second essay assignment. In the…

This article reports on the decline in writing ability skills in secondary and higher education students. The author discusses changes that have affected student writing skills over the recent decades and offers recommendations for improving these skills, such as: implementing intensive freshman writing courses; adjusting existing course…

Adult students are now enrolling into colleges and universities in large numbers. Their life responsibilities and time away from school create challenges for academic success. A portion of these learners are also non-native English speakers who face compounded difficulties. One of the skill areas that these students need to cultivate is academic…

Evaluation is far from being a neutral process. In recent years, tests have commanded increasing influence, which in turn, has broad implications for both individuals and society (Crusan, 2010b). One purpose for testing--writing placement or "where to put students" (Yancey, 1999, p. 485)--has presented particular challenges, especially in writing…

If I can show my literature students how Nabokov can take them from familiar representations of experience to representations of less familiar experiences, from a knowledge of the given world to an understanding of the world of the imagination, then, it seems to me, I ought to be able find some way of showing my composition students how to do it…

This dissertation gathers and classifies the self-reported reasons students gave for withdrawing or considering withdrawing from first year composition (FYC) courses at an urban community college on the Gulf Coast of Texas (CCGC) between 2004 and 2008. With an average student attrition rate of 20% in FYC courses at CCGC, the research question…

The purpose of this study was to reveal whether there is a relationship between students' volume of text messaging and formal writing performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test writing section. The study also examined gender as a contributing variable in this measure. As a supplementary correlation, student text message volume was also compared…

This performance "testimonio" is the result of collaboration between two U.S. Latina graduate students/ university instructors: a Latina of Puerto Rican descent and a white Chicana. It is a dialogue in which the authors "come together to engage our differences, face-to-face, and work to find common ground" (The Latina Feminist Group, 2001, p. 1).…

In a study designed to analyze faculty and student perceptions of the value of digital writing in the first year composition classroom, 21 first-year college students and a nationwide sample of 50 college composition teachers participated in conceptualizing digital multimodal composition and defining the benchmarks for first-year college digital…

One key difference between successful and struggling college readers is their use of strategies. The former can understand challenging texts due to their knowledge of how to apply a diverse range of strategies. In contrast, the latter are frequently unaware of when and how to utilize strategies, and, as a result, often cannot comprehend assigned…

What lasting impact could a required general education writing course have on students' well-being? The authors examined this question in the context of the California State University- Chico Town Hall Meeting, a campus event sponsored jointly by the Academic Writing Program and the First-Year Experience Program from 2006 to 2009. In the Town…