Research in Effective Teaching of Writing, Phase I. Final Report. Volume I. Revised / Edward M. White and Linda G. Polin.

To describe and evaluate current practices in college composition programs, a study was conducted of the 19 California State University campuses. English department chairs completed a short survey on courses, staffing, and special projects, and structured interviews were conducted with these chairs and various other program coordinators from a subsample of 10 campuses. All writing instructors inside and outside the English departments completed a detailed questionnaire about such features as instructional practices and campus climate. From the interview data, five broad categories emerged for comparing writing programs: program goals, program leadership, procedures and policies for remedial writing instruction, adjunct writing assistance, and upper-division writing requirements for graduation. The questionnaire data provided descriptive information about writing teachers and their attitudes, practices, and perceptions. The results indicated that few campuses had defined program goals or cohesive sequential curricula. The results also suggested that tenured faculty knew less about recent writing theory than did part time contract instructors, and that program coordinators' authority and power of persuasion over regular faculty were limited. (HTH)

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