Teaching English in the Two-Year College
35 articlesMarch 2025
-
Abstract
This collaboratively composed paper recognizes the juxtaposition and resonance between two writing center workers’ experiences, writerly voices, and perspectives on the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the two-year writing center. It also takes into account our shared commitment to honesty with ourselves and each other about where we succeed and where we fail in our work as diversity practitioners.
December 2024
-
Serving Students through Scheduling: Examining Course Modalities at a Two-Year Hispanic-Serving Institution ↗
Abstract
This article shares findings from a research study on writing students’ preferences, needs, and success rates across in-person, hybrid, and asynchronous online modalities and the implications for department scheduling.
September 2024
-
Abstract
This symposium documents an ongoing conversation between five faculty members from Portland Community College. The discussion explores what “equity-based assessment” means, grappling both with the reasons for adopting such approaches as contract grading, labor-based grading, and ungrading and with the challenges of implementing them in two-year colleges.
May 2024
-
Abstract
College reading instruction warrants recognition as a necessary and actionable means of teaching for social justice. Faculty who teach students how to read course texts—and who guide and support them in doing so—advance social justice and equity via three separate mechanisms of action. These processes preferentially benefit marginalized and underserved students while more broadly fostering conceptual and perspective-taking skills essential for social justice.
December 2023
-
Abstract
This article critiques the whole-college reform project dubbed Guided Pathways. The article describes how Guided Pathways research has failed to provide data that support the reform project’s claims, disputes the extent to which Guided Pathways can claim to be equity-oriented work, and ultimately identifies Guided Pathways as a reform project that diverges from the interests of the two-year college.
March 2023
-
Abstract
Preview this article: Reviews: Writing Placement in Two-Year Colleges:The Pursuit of Equity in Postsecondary Education, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/tetyc/50/3/teachingenglishinthetwoyearcollege32514-1.gif
September 2022
-
Feature: Decoding Writing Studies: First-Generation Students, Pedagogies of Access, and Threshold Concepts ↗
Abstract
This article describes the importance of pedagogies of access for equity in literacy classrooms, especially for first-generation students, who are more likely to bring what sociologists call strategies of deference that have been shaped by differences in class culture. A threshold concepts approach can bring transparency to the values of college-level core literacy skills to help interrogate and address those differences.
May 2022
-
Review: Democracy, Social Justice, and the American Community College: A Student-Centered Perspective ↗
Abstract
Preview this article: Review: Democracy, Social Justice, and the American Community College: A Student-Centered Perspective, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/tetyc/49/4/teachingenglishinthetwoyearcollege31900-1.gif
May 2021
-
Review: Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy and A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment ↗
Abstract
Preview this article: Review: Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy and A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/tetyc/48/4/teachingenglishinthetwo-yearcollege31353-1.gif
December 2017
-
Feature: Race Talk in the Composition Classroom: Narrative Song Lyrics as Texts for Racial Literacy ↗
Abstract
This article explores the potential of a song lyrics-based curriculum to encourage the practice of racial literacy in the first-year composition classroom.
-
Review: Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future, by Asao Inoue ↗
Abstract
Preview this article: Review: Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future, by Asao Inoue, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/tetyc/45/2/teachingenglishinthetwo-yearcollege29433-1.gif
December 2016
-
Abstract
This article describes a first-year writing course focused on language diversity and asserts the importance of this focus as a foundation for college writing success and linguistic inclusivity.
May 2016
-
Feature: The Risky Business of Engaging Racial Equity in Writing Instruction: A Tragedy in Five Acts ↗
Abstract
This article and its five authors investigate how writing programs, writing instructors, and the profession itself engage in the erasure of race—of blackness and brownness specifically—and perhaps most importantly in a hesitancy to address white privilege.
December 2014
-
Feature: The Poetic and the Personal: Toward a Pedagogy of Social Equity in English Language Learning ↗
Abstract
In this essay, two poets who have taught language learners in the United States and abroad argue for the use of personal writing, preferably poetry from students’ home cultures, as a bridge to writing in academic genres.
May 2014
-
Abstract
The author claims that dual enrollment programs are here to stay and that collaboration and shared equity will allow these programs to continue to improve.
September 2013
-
Abstract
Reviewed are: Facing the Center: Toward an Identity Politics of One-to-One Mentoring by Harry C. Denny. Writing Centers and the New Racism: A Call for Sustainable Dialogue and Change edited by Laura Greenfield and Karen Rowan. I Hope I Join the Band: Narrative, Affiliation, and Antiracist Rhetoric by Frankie Condon. Logan A Teaching Subject: Composition since 1966, new ed. by Joseph Harris Language and Learning in the Digital Age by James Paul Gee and Elisabeth R. Hayes Contemporary Literature: The Basics by Suman Gupta The Changing of Knowledge in Composition: Contemporary Perspectives edited by Lance Massey and Richard C. Gebhardt
May 2013
-
Abstract
The author presents findings from a research study that examines the use of a racial literacy approach to teaching first-year composition.
March 2012
-
Toward a Pedagogy of Linguistic Diversity: Understanding African American Linguistic Practices and Programmatic Learning Goals ↗
Abstract
This essay offers an example of one course that focuses exclusively on Ebonics as a specific African American linguistic practice and on rhetoric and composition scholarship as the primary topics of investigation.
September 2010
-
“The Expression of Wise Others”: Using Students’ Views of Academic Discourse to Talk about Social Justice ↗
Abstract
This article describes a process of building on students’ views about academic discourse to talk about issues of privilege, access, and the banking concept of education, thus providing a constructive and organic approach to making social justice issues relevant for students’ lives.
September 2009
-
Abstract
This essay explores the diverse uses, misperceptions, and passionate convictions about African American Vernacular among college students, revealing its complicated relevance to our culture.
March 2009
-
Abstract
This essay reports on an effective approach to teaching both rhetorical skills and white racial awareness by using historical moments when racial definitions were asserted and defended, allowing students to see their constructed racial identities through a nonthreatening rhetorical lens.
September 2008
-
Abstract
“When Readers Disagree”, Kip Strasma, Review Editor; “Teaching Writing with Latino/a Students: Lessons Learned at Hispanic-Serving Institutions” by Cristina Kirklighter, Diana Cardenas, and Susan Wolff Murphy, Reviewed by Kip Strasma; “Engaging Grammar: Practical Advice for Real Classrooms” by Amy Benjamin with Tom Oliva, Reviewed by Kimme Nuckles; “Educating English Language Learners: A Synthesis of Research Evidence” by Fred Genesee, Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, William M. Saunders, and Donna Christian, Reviewed by Mercè Pujol.
March 2008
-
Abstract
Preventing Plagiarism: Tips and Techniques Laura by Hennessey DeSena, Reviewed by Moira Casey; English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s) by Bruce McComiskey, Reviewed by Carolyn Brown; English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s) by Bruce McComiskey, Reviewed by Eric Bateman; Multicultural Hybridity: Transforming American Literary Scholarship and Pedagogy by Laurie Grobman, Reviewed by Edith M. Baker; First Time Up: An Insider’s Guide for New Composition Teachers by Brock Dethier, Reviewed by Linda Houston.
September 2007
-
Abstract
In light of research on diversity learning and teaching, an introductory course on cinematic depictions of African Americans taught at a predominately white, rural university campus leads students to see the impact of history and Hollywood on their own local and statewide communities.
December 2006
-
Abstract
This essay traces two teachers’ experiences crossing spaces in a combined literature and history seminar where students explore American culture and diversity and engage in service learning. The model has evolved from paired classes with collaborative activities to a student-centered environment promoting active learning. This article offers practical advice for establishing cross-curricular pairings and suggests course content that promotes learning across curricula.
September 2006
-
Abstract
The highly competent professor of English in today’s two-year college—like highly competent faculty at all levels of education—is a skilled educator, a knowledgeable scholar, and an active learner and contributor within the profession. What distinguishes the two-year college teacher-scholar is his or her dedication to open educational access, commitment to democratic participation and equity within higher education, and ability to help make these ideals a reality for highly diverse learners from eighteen to eighty and from backgrounds that cross conventional divides of race, ethnicity, class, and academic preparation.
May 2006
-
Abstract
Examining student responses to a class assignment leads to a richer understanding of how students process and respond to diversity issues.
May 2004
-
Abstract
Combining service-learning with multicultural literature study in a general education first-year course can encourage students to theorize difference from multiple perspectives.
September 2002
-
Abstract
Reviews four books: Listening Up: Reinventing Ourselves as Teachers and Students, by Rachel Martin; Disturbing the Peace, by Nancy Newman; Let Them Eat Data: How Computers Affect Education, Cultural Diversity, and the Prospects of Ecological Sustainability, by C. A. Bowers; Assessing the Portfolio: Principles for Practice, Theory, and Research, by Liz Hamp-Lyons and William Condon.
December 1999
-
Abstract
Describes a study unit for ESL (English Second Language) students on language and identity. Explores the dichotomy of attitudes and behavior occurring when a nonnative speaker tries to embrace a new language and culture. Concludes that reading and writing about multicultural literature in the ESL classroom helps students gain language skills and better perspectives on the diversity of American culture.
September 1999
-
Abstract
Offers future researchers many opportunities for research in two-year college English. Considers input about issues, problems, and questions which the research community still needs to engage. Assumes that research clusters around several “fault lines” shared by other groups and institutions not directly tied to education; the fault lines selected are identity, technology, diversity, pedagogy, literacy, and methodology.
March 1999
-
Abstract
Describes a writing assignment in which students study and imitate the language of a minority author. Discusses how the assignment helps negotiate conflicts when students resist multicultural literature, as their creative responses mediate between themselves and works they might otherwise find foreign and antagonistic.
September 1998
-
Abstract
Argues that using unfamiliar texts in a multicultural classroom allows students to read and write without interference from existing cultural tensions. Describes how, finding their own defenses and prejudices suddenly meaningless, students realize just how much common ground they share. Illustrates this by describing use of a Maori poem the author has found particularly powerful and effective.
May 1998
-
Abstract
Reviews three books: August Wilson and the African American Odyssey, by Kim Pereira; When Students Have Power: Negotiating Authority in a Critical Pedagogy, by Ira Shor; A Guide to Argumentative Writing, by Byron L. Stay.