Discusses some concrete examples of the kinds of conflicts that can surface when reader-response theory is actually practiced in the classroom, and considers some of the implications. Urges instructors to make room for contesting views and to facilitate serious, committed, personal interchanges. (MS)

Claims "Responsive Teaching" is a useful conferencing procedure which expects writers to evaluate and refine their own writing, and tries not to side-track the self-evaluation once it begins. (MS)

Describes Sentence Patterns, a software program designed to help teach sentence structure to college freshman composition students. Topics discussed include traditional teaching methods for the effective use of written language, software development, use in computer labs, and student surveys used for courseware evaluation. (LRW)

Describes the successes and problems of one instructor's use of a pedagogy class to initiate teaching assistants in writing instruction with the benefit of an experienced instructor as a mentor. (HTH)

Argues that reading should be taught as a process. Suggests sources for information on the active reading process (missing in most textbooks) and describes a method for integrating the reading process and collaborative learning in a college writing class. (SD)

Compares cohesive ties and chains in the good and poor essays of college freshmen. Results indicate that longer chains, greater variety of words, and greater maturity or word choice characterize good writing. (SRT)

Discusses the dangers of writing instruction that encourages "voice" (expressiveness of style) by capitalizing on the same kinds of fears that power evangelism. Claims this approach is not appropriate for all students, may cause problems when a piece is to be written by a committee, and may not be essential at all in factual, informative…

A study examined the effectiveness of a writing center in improving student writing. All Composition 121 instructors except those who taught in the writing center were included. Students (1519 were enrolled in 69 sections of Composition 121) and instructors were randomly placed into three groups: Group I, the experimental group; Group II, the…

This paper describes how freshman composition teachers can provide students with tools for integrating different classes and navigating the university experience by introducing students to discourse community theory and viewing freshman composition as a foundation for Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). It begins by describing how discourse…

When it comes to "student-centered" teaching, who knows what teachers are talking about? Specifically, the multiple perspectives offered in today's diverse classrooms have rendered such terms slippery and subjective. In a student-centered classroom, to "be" the one who knows what the students are talking about, the writing…

For an instructor of freshman composition at the University of Michigan at Flint, faith-based writing topics offer particular challenges and sometimes intersect in troubling ways with her own prejudices and personal history as a teacher and as a person. But if handled correctly, she believes that a teacher's interaction with students about…

Analysis of the difference between male-centered and female-centered electronic discourse communities identifies patterns which may exclude or privilege individual females. This paper characterizes female-centered electronic dialogue through studying the roles of Sarah and Rachel, women in two separate sections of first-year English who became the…

Reconsiders the assumptions writing teachers make about students' literacy practices. Chooses students in the "center," neither particularly successful nor recalcitrant failures, to demonstrate a way of reading the rhetorical constructions of students' texts to understand the decisions they make in composing. Sketches implications of…

Talks about the political and personal difficulties involved in "coming out" as a gay or lesbian college instructor and particularly as those difficulties concern the teaching of undergraduate composition courses with a syllabus addressing gay and lesbian issues. (TB)

Proposes that general education curricula often have difficulty remaining faithful to goals of student empowerment. Provides case study of first year composition (FYC). Suggests that a strong commitment to reflection and revision of programs will create curricula that are more questioning and less comfortable with their own assumptions. Proposes…