New York College Learning Skills Association

RTDE Issue Contents

Research and Teaching
in Developmental Education

Volume 20, Issue 2, Spring 2004

View from the Bridge:
Connecting At-level, Developmental, and ESLWriters

By Margot Harper Banks, Linda Best, and Sharon Snyder, Kean University

Abstract

The authors describe an innovative composition curriculum that is delivered in different formats to accommodate the varying skill levels of both native and non-native first-year college students. This new curriculum is one outcome of a university-wide initiative to reform General Education, to re-structure Developmental Education, and to forge connections among courses as well as between the curriculum and academic support. Within this context of change, College Composition engages students in challenging college-level material, incorporates technology into instruction, and targets student outcomes through explicit cognitive and skill goals, diversity goals, and distinct value goals. The extended composition course formats for developmental and ESL writers are of particular importance. These offer a seamless, integrated writing experience, and they eliminate the artificial boundaries created when dividing skills content into course structures for different proficiency levels. The authors orient readers to the new composition curriculum by reviewing seven underlying principles that carry implications for instruction, course delivery, and course management.