Learning community (LC) programs continue to proliferate across college campuses as a strategy to engage and retain students. Although evidence exists to suggest increased levels of social engagement among LC participants, there is an ongoing debate about the impact on student academic engagement and intellectual development. This article…

This article discusses the future of reading and writing. It includes a brief history of reading and writing, shows the reader how digital text has quietly evolved and threatens to take over traditional notions of what it means to be literate, and suggests that speech will emerge as a dominant way of communicating. The three ideas developed here…

This article summarizes the use of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and subsequent action planning as a tool of self-assessment to meet CAS (Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education) requirements for systematic assessment. The use of the evaluation results to devise improvements to increase the…

Not too many years ago, right about the start of the new millennium, the TAMU-CC Writing Center began to pull away from the model of a center that focuses mostly on individual consultations and began to build a greater sense of the place of the Writing Center in the larger university Writing Community. In this article, we share how we have built…

Little research has discussed how writing center tutors can help postsecondary students develop skill in reading. Via individual interviews, this investigator collected data from eleven writing center tutors at a large urban public university. Analysis of this data suggests that while nearly all of the tutors lacked specific knowledge of how…

Three professors explicitly examined how educational dialogue and narrative informed their students' reading and writing experiences. In three introductory courses (composition, sociology, and literature) each taught in a developmental education unit within a large research university, students wrote at least one story about "social ghosts," the…

Notes that the college writing style model is based on a wide range of research conducted in the United States and abroad. Notes the writing style model is comprehensive because it explains strategies writers use in relation to writers' beliefs, writing environments, and written products. Concludes with recommendations for instruction that…

Argues that the college reading and learning discourse community should enlarge its support and perspective by listening to and learning from other academic communities. Explains why college composition is the perfect place to start; examines its history, associations and professional journals; discusses genre theory as an example of composition's…

Reviews the use of teaching conflict pedagogy, specifically war narratives, in order to evaluate positions of power. Utilizes the views of compositional theorists, rhetoricians, essayists, and fiction writers in an effort to disengage students from unproductive argumentation models. Challenges past polarities and forges confrontational cooperation…

Draws on the complementary processes of writing and photography. Suggests a theory and method of instruction employing visual and metacognitive strategies to aid students in discovering unseen details and meaning when writing descriptive prose. (RS)

Reports on an experimental enterprise in which a writing course and a mathematics course were linked together so that writing was incorporated into mathematics instruction and problem solving was emphasized in writing instruction. Describes two writing assignments and two mathematic assignments. Contains student responses to the assignments. (TB)

Explores and identifies elements that lead to successful lifelong literacy and good practices in teaching and learning. Presents three personal stories of highly successful readers and writers. (TB)

Presents a case study of an adult student preparing for her first year of college through a writing course and work in a writing workshop. Explains complicating circumstances in the student's life. Presents four professional responses commenting on the difficulties of the situation and possible solutions. (TB)