This article examines two course redesigns undertaken to improve student support, learning, and retention in the basic writing program at Oakland University, a doctoral research university in southeast Michigan, where support for developmental writers has fluctuated dramatically between nurture and neglect over the past fifty years. However,…

Critical analysis of the literacy narrative assignment within the context of the other genres in a basic writing course complicates understandings of the political import of the assignment. While several advocates of the literacy narrative have argued that it has the power of what Jean-François Lyotard has called petits récits, the authors argue…

Suggests an alternative to traditional revising for basic writers. Describes how "interrupted" writing assignments can reveal students' writing processes. (MM)

Notes that while informed teachers of writing have moved toward more dialogic approaches, they still have colonial tendencies when responding to student writing. Suggests an activity that invites students to talk back to the teacher-reader as a means of helping them move more effectively toward revision. (PA)

Summarizes Stephen Krashen's work on second language acquisition (involving the distinction between language acquisition and language learning). Discusses several techniques for teaching "Edited American English" in light of Krashen's theory, including error-based exercises and guided editing. Indicates which techniques help or impede…

Describes instructional techniques, based on schema theory, which enable English as a second language (ESL) students to revise their writing to meet the expectations of English-speaking readers. Illustrates this approach by examining a Chinese-speaking student's first revision of an essay. (RS)