Teaching English in the Two-Year College, Vol. 25, No. 1, February 1998

Table of Contents

• Do Two-Year College Students Write as Well as Four-Year College Students? Classroom and Institutional Perspectives

  Jake Gaskins, Dennis Holt, and Elizabeth Roeger

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Finds that the writing of the typical student enrolled in the community college composition class is qualitatively different from the writing of their four-year counterparts but that two-year college transfer students achieve the same level of writing competence as their nontransfer peers. Presents reactions of a two-year college instructor regarding implications of these results.

  Keywords: Writing, College

• Zines in the Composition Classroom

  Dan Fraizer

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Argues that zines (short for "fanzines": small, cheaply produced sheets on a wide range of topics) interest many college students and offer composition classes a number of opportunities. Discusses obtaining zines, using them in the composition classroom, how students respond to zines, producing zines, and how it all comes together.

  Keywords: Writing, College

• INSTRUCTIONAL NOTE · Tape Recorders and the Commuter Student: Bypassing the Red Pen

  Ronald Kates

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Discusses several ways in which tape-recorded responses by the instructor to student writing can benefit commuter students. Discusses how the audio cassette responses are paired with a series of questions on the writing process and how the author shapes his tape-recorded comments. Notes student responses about the advantages of this approach.

  Keywords: Technology, College

• Advertising, Social Epistemic, and Argumentation in the Composition Class

  Brian Turner

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Makes a case for using advertising as the common subject matter in a composition course, and for analyzing advertisements as a means of teaching argumentation. Discusses seeking a social-epistemic curriculum in the heterogeneous writing class. Shows why the close analysis of print advertisements provides an ideal opportunity to discuss questions of what constitutes a good claim.

  Keywords: Writing, College

• The Liberatory Composition Teacher's Obligation to Writing Centers at Two-Year Colleges

  John Paul Tassoni

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Argues that connecting classroom practice to writing center tutorials prepares students to generate dialogic and democratic tutorials. Describes a liberatory writing center (rather than a skill-and-drill site of remediation). Describes classroom practices that help students develop critical approaches to the power arrangements they encounter both inside and outside the academy. Notes implications for two-year colleges.

  Keywords: Writing, College

• Forsaking the Big Desk: Whole Language in the College Classroom

  Kami Day

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes the experience of a college teacher teaching, for the first time, an introduction to literature course with a whole-language approach. Describes how she abandoned her position as imparter-of-knowledge and as authority, and joined the students as one of many readers and writers. Discusses how class activities were structured and notes students' enthusiasm.

  Keywords: Language, Writing, College

• "I Just Don't Understand It": Teaching Margaret Atwood's "Rape Fantasies"

  Lisa Tyler

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Discusses Margaret Atwood's "provocative and funny" short story "Rape Fantasies," and describes how, when teaching this story the author encourages students to sympathize with Estelle (the narrator) before they judge her (instead of rushing to achieve closure and begin interpretation).

  Keywords: Literature, Reading, College

• ESL Writing and The Principle of Nonjudgmental Awareness: Rationale and Implementation

  Loretta Frances Kasper

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Argues that a process-oriented nonjudgmental instructional approach can help English-as-a-Second-Language community college students become better writers. Discusses the principle of nonjudgmental awareness and its rationale, and describes five pedagogical techniques used in a nonjudgmental writing class.

  Keywords: Language, Writing, College

• INSTRUCTIONAL NOTE: A Moral to the Story: Folk Tales in the ESL Classroom

  Bette Brickman

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes an English-as-a-Second-Language class writing and discussion project in which students retold and explained their favorite folk stories, eventually publishing them in a booklet.

  Keywords: College

• EDITORIAL: The Review Process

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: College

• Agoraphobia

  Brian Cronwall

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Available in print only.

  Keywords: College

• Writers in Training

  Karen R. Stevens

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Available in print issue only.

  Keywords: College

• REVIEWS

  Linda Houston; Ellen A. Knodt

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Reviews two books: Ourselves as Students, comp. and ed. by The Broad Minds Collective; Cross-Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader, ed. by Victor Villanueva, Jr.

  Keywords: College

* Journal articles are provided in PDF format and can be opened using the free Adobe® Reader® program or a comparable viewer. Click here to download and install the most recent version of Adobe Reader.