Abstracts, JBW 25.1 / spring 2006

Personal and Academic Writing: Revisiting the Debate

Rebecca Williams Mlynarczyk

More than ten years have passed since the widely publicized debate about personal and academic writing that played out in the 1990s between Peter Elbow and David Bartholomae. But the question of the relative merits of these two different types of writing for student writers continues to be an issue of concern for teachers of composition, especially teachers of basic writing. In this article, I take another look at this important question. Using the psycholinguistic theories of Jerome Bruner and James Britton as the basis for analysis, I reconsider the Elbow-Bartholomae debate. Then, using data from a qualitative study of reflective journal writing I conducted, I argue that all students–and especially basic writers–need to reflect on their reading using personal, expressive language in order to acquire genuine academic discourse.

The Synergy Program: Reframing Critical Reading and Writing for At-Risk Students

April Heaney

In this description of a learning community for "at-risk" and basic writing students at the University of Wyoming, I outline the reasons our students resist academic writing prior to their entry into college–reasons largely unrelated to typical perceptions of at-risk students as "lazy "or intellectually less capable. For students who come from family or community cultures that are far removed from academic discourses and hierarchies, accepting a new form of writing–and therefore thinking–is akin to widening a rift between them and their home cultures. Because of this tension, faculty in the Synergy Program approach basic writing not as a deficiency in writing structure or mechanics, but as a deeply held attitude of uninvestment in the writing process. In an attempt to help students overcome this attitude of uninvestment, particularly toward writing projects involving research and clear thesis structures, Synergy faculty in the Composition and Critical Thinking courses collaborated in melding two courses that give students room to develop not only writing, but also reading and critical thinking literacies in a context that does not presuppose their investment in the process. The Synergy Program includes three courses in the fall and one course in the spring. In addition, students attend a one-day, six-hour summer orientation during which they gain an in-depth introduction to the program and form initial connections with faculty and peers. This article presents a learning community model for encouraging academic literacies that foregrounds students' anxieties about acculturation into academic modes of thinking and inspires ownership of course projects through ethnographic research and a capstone web portfolio.

Basic Writers and Learning Communities

Rachelle L. Darabi

This study investigates a basic writing course within a freshman learning Community at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). Multiple layers of data, both qualitative and quantitative, provide a thick description of what occurred overall in that classroom over the course of one semester. My findings suggest that basic writing classes are more successful within a learning community in terms of student pass rates and increased engagement. Thus, further study of basic writing courses as an integral part of first-year experience programs, especially those that utilize learning communities, should be a priority.

In the Service of Writing and Race

Angelique Davi

Service learning has been recognized as an effective pedagogical tool in the writing classroom. It has also served to help students develop an awareness of diversity and multicultural issues. In this article, I examine the benefits of service learning in a basic writing course designed for students of color attending a disproportionately white institution. Students in this course are accepted into the university through the Contractual Admissions Program (CAP), a program designed for students whose academic profile might otherwise impede their access to higher education. Through a close examination of student journal reflections and classroom exchanges, I argue that incorporating service learning in the curriculum helps students of color develop their reading and writing skills, recognize the contributions they make to the community and college, and begin to examine the ways in which issues of race, class, and gender often play a significant role in their intellectual growth.

(Re)Membering Basic Writing at a Public Ivy: History for Institutional Redesign

John Paul Tassoni

This essay offers a history of a basic writing course that began at a public ivy campus in the 1970s. Relying on principles of universal design and on insights derived from his school’s studio program about ways the institution’s selective functions can impact curricular matters, the author describes how the basic writing course was merely retrofitted to an English Department’s goals, rather than integrated into its mainstream business. In turn, the author suggests that historical studies such as this can help basic writing teachers excavate and reinvigorate democratic reform efforts often backgrounded in light of a school’s elite reputation.