The purpose of this study was to determine if developmental junior-college students' overall achievement in composition skills could be increased, and their self-concepts improved, by the use of individual teacher/student conferences. The sample used for the study consisted of 62 junior-college students enrolled in a developmental English course. Instructional methods and criteria for grading were identical in the control and experimental groups, except that students in the experimental group participated in weekly 15-minute instructor/student conferences for 13 weeks. During the conferences, instructors made corrections on the students' papers and attempted to accent the strengths of each student. In the control group, a traditional approach was used in which the instructors returned the papers to the students, outlining needed corrections; no other comments, positive or negative, were made on the papers. Subjects were administered the McGraw-Hill Basic Skills System test and the Tennessee Self Concept Scale at the beginning and end of the study. Analysis of the results revealed a significant gain in writing achievement, but no significant gain in self-concept, for students in the experimental group. (Author/GW)