Analyzes and interprets responses to detailed questionnaires about reading practices that a college professor and a high school teacher administered in high school and college classrooms. Concludes with some brief suggestions for future research and with a discussion of several ways that teachers might "teach" reading differently in order to open…

Examines the challenges one basic writer, a deaf student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, confronted when she took on the role of public writer. Analyzes the student's attempt to enact change for the sake of uncovering the pedagogical implications that teachers of basic writing must consider when educating students to write for the public…

Notes that the number of second language writers in composition classes and seeking assistance at university writing centers is growing every year. Explores some insights offered by second language acquisition research. Argues that writing centers may be an ideal place for second language writers to work on their writing. (PM)

Explores the idea that basic writing students, when positioned in a classroom setting where safety and trust are paramount, will be willing to take risks. Notes that successful risks will lead students into a more positive relationship with their own writing abilities. Concludes that success in writing leads to a more open-minded approach which…

Examines the increasing pressure exerted on high schools to ensure adequate preparation for college, pressure exerted above all by state-mandated tests. Notes that hopes of coping with such pressure rest on understanding its source. Concludes that collaborative ventures between colleges and high schools can transcend a fixation on state mandates…

Considers the consequences of expelling California State University students who do not complete remediation within one year. Proposes that the lack of educational choices is analogous to the institutionalized absence of alternatives for basic writing programs. Analyzes the contradictory rhetoric of official policy, linking the elitist return to…

Finds that students who become part of an active, student-centered learning community have a greater change of succeeding in college than those who do not. Explores the nature and structure of learning community programs and what makes them so effective in contributing to the success of entering college students, English-as-a-second-language (ESL)…

Continues a previous exploratory investigation of the personal changes emerging in academic writing courses in two Israeli universities where English is taught as a foreign language. Suggests that Sustained Content-Based instruction may contribute significantly to students' personal growth and relationships. (SG)

Examines issues of student and teacher development and identity. Considers how metaphors for basic writers often constrain possibilities for teacher learning. Notes that as long as educators position themselves as problem-solvers, they foreclose the possibility for changing themselves in relation to students. Argues for the importance of attending…

Explores some of the differences between faculty and policy advocates by analyzing spatial/directional metaphors used by individuals in each professional domain to describe notions of access and standards. Notes that advocates in the policy-oriented discourse tend to use vertical metaphors, while educators engaged in pedagogical discourse tend to…

Notes scholars in composition studies have begun to question the issues of writing in academic discourse communities. Explains college students (particularly basic writers and English-as-a-second-language writers) are only beginning to find acceptable spaces for their alternative writing styles in academia. Concludes if hybrid discourse were…

Presents a revised version of a talk given at the 2001 meeting of the City University of New York Association of Writing Supervisors. Offers a critique of current use of metaphors of community in teaching writing as both utopian and confining. Suggests alternate ways of imagining writing and teaching. Proposes three counter-concepts to community:…

Discusses training as a gesture made within institutional power structures that can be influenced in various ways to help bring about good basic writing instruction. Offers questions, observations and discussion with the hope that others will re-consider training as an institutional presence made visible through their own campus configurations of…

Explores how womanist sermons can be used in the writing classroom with other-literate students to help them produce hybrid discourse that problematizes and expands what is acceptable and progressive rhetoric within the academy. Demonstrates how exploring womanist sermons can help non-traditional students create provocative and analytical essays…

Explores basic writing students' current writing processes, their thoughts on their writing, and their introduction to a structured writing process model. Suggests that educators can assist basic writers in becoming successful college writers by introducing them to a structured writing process model while also helping them to become reflective…