New York College Learning Skills Association

RTDE Issue Contents

Research and Teaching
in Developmental Education

Volume 20, Issue 2, Spring 2004

Writing to Learn:
The Nickel and Dimed Project

By Susan Naomi Bernstein, University of Houston-Downtown, and Pete Johnson, Eastern Connecticut State University

Abstract

In this article, the authors use participant inquiry research to examine the intersections of reading and writing for English language learners in a linked reading and writing course. Specifically, they describe an assignment based on Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed, that demonstrates how critical thinking can work across the disciplines, combining reading, writing, and real-life mathematics. Along the way, the authors consider how an analysis of standardized test scores led, in part, to this assignment. In addition, they address the needs of English language learners especially in terms of the linked metacognitive processes of reading and writing. At the same time, student voices speak throughout this paper, detailing their struggles and insights as they worked through each step toward completion of their essay.