In the last four columns the authors introduced the concept of critical thinking competency standards and elaborated a number of such standards, targeting the analysis of thought, the assessment of thought, and the cultivation of intellectual virtues. In this column they focus on three subject-specific critical thinking competency standards. It is…

The scholarship about assessment for placement is extensive and notoriously ambiguous. Foremost among the questions that continue to be unresolved in this scholarship is this one: Is a writing sample necessary for "accurate placement"? Using a robust data sample of student assessment essays and ACCUPLACER test scores, we put this question to the…

This study examined barriers experienced by veteran school paraprofessionals attempting to complete a 4-year degree leading to public school teaching credentials. The study followed culturally and linguistically diverse, nontraditional student-participants through their 1st and 2nd years as sophomore/junior students in a large urban university.…

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)

Investigates the effects of task repetition on the writing skills of upper-level developmental reading students. Reports that productivity, use of source text, and representation of key ideas improved with simple repetition of meaningful literacy tasks. However, there was also an increase in copying from the sources. (Contains 38 references.)…

Argues that few students learn to think well within the disciplines and domains of knowledge and experience. Offers 18 ideas for students to utilize in order to become better critical thinkers and learners, including: (1) becoming an active learner; (2) becoming a questioner; and (3) looking for interconnections. First in a series of articles.…

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…

Describes the use of a multi-part journal format, known as the synthesis journal, in academic assistance composition classes. The journal promotes students' abilities to synthesize ideas from four major sources--text, lecture, class discussion, and personal experience--and encourages higher-order thinking skills without shifting attention from the…

Discusses new technologies, applications, and computer software programs available for use in the instruction of developmental writing programs. Describes programs that function as multimedia writing "coaches" and model the writing process, collaborative writing tools that stimulate written conversations, and grammar and bibliographic tutors. (SJL)

Explores World Wide Web sites developmental students can visit to improve their writing, study, math, and reading skills. (VWC)

Reports on a study of first-year college students who received instruction in metacognitive awareness for reading and writing. Describes metacognitive teaching strategies such as use of reflective journals or "reading logs," in which students recorded their thought processes as they read text and wrote papers. States that analyses of logs…

Describes a study investigating differences in self-perception of writing competency among high- and low-apprehensive writers. Suggests that high-apprehensive writers were more likely to have had negative past writing experiences and to believe that writing ability is an innate quality rather than a process requiring a great deal of effort. (27…

Discusses research on the role of audience awareness in writing and human cognition, arguing that developmental writers exhibit egocentric tendencies and assume that the readers do not need elaboration or transitions. Describes four subskills of audience awareness: clear execution, adequate content, perspective differentiation, and role taking.…

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.…

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…