Many writing teachers provide feedback to their students through writing conferences; however, the existing literature indicates teachers may unintentionally harm their weaker students by using this strategy. To better understand the effect of the writing conference on developmental writing students, the researcher created a mixed design ANCOVA to…

This article presents an interview with Dr. Muriel Harris who is considered as one of the most influential figures in writing center research and practice for over three decades. She is currently Professor Emerita of English at Purdue University. She founded The Purdue Writing Center which she directed from 1976 until 2003. She also founded…

Four years of data on the academic performance of 256 students who self-selected online developmental writing rather than a face-to-face section (about 10% of the 2,275 students enrolled in the course overall) are examined in this empirical study. The research controls for self-selection effects related to demographic variables, student status,…

Argues that writing is a social practice, and as such, student writing should be thought of as part of the larger society. Reports on responses from 393 (over 50% of those solicited) students in developmental writing courses, which indicate that students want to feel they have a stake in their own learning. (Contains 26 references.) (NB)

Provides the example of writing as a subject in which an educator might design instruction so that students think their way through the logic of the subject rather than memorize bits and pieces of someone else's thought (never grasping its logic). Presents four instructional steps: prethinking the course, student orientation, initial practice, and…

Chronicles the development of a writing course into a G1 online course, which provides students with handouts and links to developmental education sites. Outlines the recommended processes for effective writing: prewriting, drafting, editing, and presenting. Provides links to the course Web site for others interested in adding an online component…

Examines the informal and formal measures of assessing developmental students' writing. Puts forth implications for classroom guidelines, making suggestions based on research results of composition scholars. Discusses paper grading and management of paperwork load. Contains 17 references. (VWC)

Describes a basic writing program which provides an enabling environment to give students opportunities and a plan for composing sentences and texts and interacting with readers, through such techniques as collaborative learning, writing as process, and sentence combining. Offers profiles of typical basic writers including examples of their work.…

Reviews research on sex differences in language use. Describes a study of the language patterns of 20 female college students in basic writing or freshman composition. Addresses instructional implications. Reviews relevant reading theories, discusses the relationship between women's language patterns and their reading schemata, and recommends…

Examines the academic and linguistic needs of writers for whom English is a second language within the context of current research and publications on second language acquisition, affective variables that influence acquisition, the development of audience awareness, collaborative learning, "sheltered" content courses and…

Describes a method for incorporating writing into the basic mathematics program using personal math journals composed of a graph showing the number of hours devoted daily to math homework, a record of test grades, and at least one paragraph about the student's math experiences or another math-related topic. (AYC)

Discusses alternatives to formal grammatical analysis to teach syntax and usage, including sentence combining, expansion, and modelling/imitation; transformation exercises; and inductive grammar. Considers ways of teaching editing/proofreading skills, including peer editing, teacher/student conferences, and selective marking of errors. Discusses…

Examines students' frequent failure to write meaningful essays in light of their inability to use personal experience as a basis for their writing. Compares the processes of writing and experiential learning. Suggests ways of transforming writing assignments into learning experiences. (DMM)

Explains a three-step method of presenting the logical relationships indicated by connecting words (e.g., similarly, however, and therefore) so that developmental students can use them by building upon their understanding of coordinate and subordinate sentences within the paragraph structure. (DMM)

Explains a teaching method which uses students' sentences as examples of faulty writing, provides a clue system which guides students in error diagnosis, and requires the revision of example sentences. Explores the use of the method in developing students' understanding of the importance of revision. (AYC)