Remedial Writing Courses: A Critique and a Proposal

Many of our attempts to help college remedialI writers, attempts that are often well-intentioned and seemingly commonsensical, may, in fact, be ineffective, even counterproductive, for these attempts reduce, fragment, and possibly misrepresent the composing process. I believe we may be limiting growth in writing in five not unrelated ways. 1) Our remedial courses are self-contained; that is, they have little conceptual or practical connection to...