The complex nature of written expression presents difficulty for many students, particularly those with learning disabilities (LD). The literature in the area of written expression and students with learning disabilities indicates that explicit, rule-based instruction can enhance the writing skills of struggling students. Research in Direct…

Colleagues ask us, "What are the applications of multiple intelligence (MI) theory to teacher education?" And since we have both recently been developing online materials, a further question to ourselves has been, "What are the applications of MI theory to online training and teaching?" In this article, we examine some applications of MI theory to…

Thirty years ago, Peter Elbow wrote "Writing without Teachers" and ushered in the process, heuristic approach to language pedagogy. Most distinctive about Elbow's book--and the plethora of others that would follow--was the invitation to allow writing to evolve, to develop, and to grow as a living organism. Suddenly, teachers were supplanting…

By focusing on local problems or issues, student writers can craft research essays that exemplify civic engagement, a practice that reaffirms composition's tacit tradition from classical rhetoric and the educational philosophy of John Dewey. Volunteer experiences or local problems that affect students directly allow writers to actively research…

As students enter college, English composition instructors complain that students lack essential grammar basics to create clear, coherent pieces of writing. The number of students requiring developmental coursework at institutions has increased significantly since the institution of mandatory placement in 2000. In the face of the challenge to…

This article examines some of the tensions and contradictions between the process-oriented, learning-centered pedagogy commonly associated with basic writing and the product-based, performance-centered moment mandated by writing-for-the-community varieties of service learning. Because end-of-term "writing-for" projects cannot provide students with…

In this article, the author relates the history of one of the first two-year college writing laboratories in the country, the University of Minnesota General College Writing Laboratory, created in 1932. This writing laboratory was a setting in which a student could write "things which he wishes to write in answer to natural demands"…

This position statement was inspired by the "Position Statement on Graduate Students in Writing Center Administration" (endorsed by the International Writing Center Association on November 17, 2001). A purpose of the document, to borrow language from the graduate student position statement, is to "[suggest] an ideal set of conditions," and it is…

A teacher with vivid memories of a childhood of poverty in Appalachia helps launch a community-based, participatory action research project with adolescent girls from the same background. Applicable to all marginalized students, the results of this research highlight the importance of seeing and hearing oneself in stories and of sharing stories…

In academic writing, non-native speakers tend to misuse the phrase "on the contrary", confusing it with "on the other hand". Sources of guidance to usage in English almost invariably describe it as a phrase of contrast or contradiction. This may apply to how the phrase is normally used in dialogue, but an analysis of the phrase as usually…

Although the Bartholomae/Elbow debate is often framed as a modern conflict between the advocates of "academic" and "personal" writing, it is more appropriately viewed as the most recent manifestation of the historical clash between expressivism and constructivism. However, both sides of this conflict, which split over whether to see writing as a…

The author of more than one article has asserted in these pages that a goal of studying composition is to transcend the natural orality of the untrained intellect. Keith Whitaker hereby turns that around. While he allows the salutary effect of patterning one's prose after the great works of our civilization, he cites Socrates and the Bible to…

This paper discusses the possibility of using newspaper genres and genre-based pedagogy to teach intermediate ESL learners to write school genres. Students' typical writing problems reveal the inadequacy of the typical composition classroom instruction. Then two texts regarded as typical representations of the editorial and the school…

With the advent of English as a global language, the ability to write well in English across diverse settings and for different audiences has become an imperative in second language education programmes throughout the world. Yet the teaching of second language writing is often hindered by the great amount of time and skill needed to evaluate…

While education involves much more than a set of habits, their formation is integral to learning. Within many Western countries, however, habit formation is no longer considered a pedagogic goal. Students may still acquire certain habits of learning as a function of schooling, but the process whereby teachers utilize a form of instruction designed…