Basic Writing

Front cover
......Page 1
Series page
......Page 3
Title page
......Page 4
Copyright page......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Series Editor’s Preface by Charles Bazerman......Page 12
Introduction......Page 16
1 Historical Overview......Page 24
The 1960s......Page 25
The 1970s......Page 28
The 1980s......Page 39
The 1990s......Page 48
2000 and Beyond......Page 58
2 Defining Basic Writing and Basic Writers......Page 62
Early Definitions......Page 63
Basic Writing as a Fix-It Station......Page 64
Basic Writing as a Back Formation of First-Year Composition......Page 65
A Sense of Mission and Purpose......Page 68
Cognitivist Definitions......Page 71
Contextual Definitions......Page 72
Prescribing Without Defining......Page 75
Initiation as a Goal......Page 76
Problems with Initiation as a Goal......Page 80
A Point of Crisis......Page 82
The Vulnerability of Basic Writing......Page 84
The Crisis as Reflected in the Journal of Basic Writing......Page 85
Responding to Calls to Eliminate Basic Writing......Page 88
“Our Apartheid”......Page 90
Context-Contingent Definitions......Page 91
“Basic Writing at a Political Crossroads”......Page 92
Capitulating on Definition......Page 94
3 Practices and Pedagogies......Page 99
Error......Page 101
Teaching Complication 1: The Need for Complexity......Page 103
Teaching Complication 2: The Need for Tolerance......Page 104
Teaching Complication 3: The Need (Still) for Correctness......Page 105
Teaching Complication 4: The Need for Process Analysis......Page 106
Teaching Complication 5: The Need for Interpretation......Page 107
Teaching Complication 6: The Need for Negotiation......Page 109
Teaching Complication 7: The Need for (and Lack of) Consensus......Page 110
Assessment......Page 111
Teaching to the Test......Page 112
Teacher Resistance to Institutionally Imposed Testing......Page 115
State-Mandated Testing......Page 118
Teaching......Page 120
The Importance of Process......Page 121
Cognitive Schemes and Their Limitations......Page 122
A Grab Bag of Instructional Strategies......Page 124
Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts: A Redefined Teaching Project......Page 126
The Politics of Identity......Page 131
Literacy as a Social Practice......Page 135
Experiments in Mainstreaming......Page 138
The Fragmentation of the Teaching Enterprise......Page 139
4 Research......Page 143
Insights from Linguistics......Page 144
Error Analysis......Page 146
Upholding the Standard......Page 148
Changing Attitudes toward Error......Page 149
Error Recognition......Page 150
Assessment......Page 153
Foundational Work in Mass Testing......Page 154
Disillusionment with Holistic Assessment......Page 156
Not How to Test, but Whether?......Page 159
Alternatives to Established Assessments......Page 160
High Schools as Gatekeepers......Page 162
Process......Page 163
Writing Process(es)......Page 165
Thinking Process(es)......Page 166
Cognition or Discourse Conventions?......Page 169
Academic Literacy......Page 172
Attitudes and Identities......Page 177
The Conflict Within, the Conflict Without......Page 179
Case Studies of Conflict and Struggle......Page 181
5 The Future of Basic Writing......Page 184
Questioning the Value of Remediation......Page 185
Real-World Repercussions......Page 188
Arguing for Abolition......Page 189
The Great Unraveling......Page 191
Public Policy and Basic Writing......Page 193
Alternative Program Structures......Page 195
Anticipating the Need......Page 200
Examining Costs and Benefits......Page 203
Appendix: Basic Writing Resources......Page 210
Works Cited......Page 218
Index......Page 242
About the Authors......Page 248
Back cover
......Page 249