<p> Most developmental community college students are not completing the composition sequence successfully. This mixed-methods study examined acceleration as a way to help developmental community college students complete the composition sequence more quickly and more successfully. Acceleration is a curricular redesign that includes challenging readings and assignments and reduces the number of required classes in the developmental composition sequence. Developmental students taking an accelerated composition class at the California community college studied were as successful as developmental students taking the traditional segmented basic skills course. Students who pass the accelerated course skip a developmental class and are eligible to take the college-level course, which saves them time and money. The students who were interviewed cited the main factors leading to their success: the academic support from faculty, academic support from fellow students, the personality/caring of the teacher, and an interest in the class theme. Data were from the first semester the college offered this class. Findings from the study indicate that the college studied should continue offering accelerated composition classes and should encourage attendance at professional development meetings so that all parts of the accelerated curriculum will be implemented in the future. Implementing all parts of the accelerated curriculum may increase the success rates. The college studied should also re-examine its traditional basic skills curriculum and the timed writing departmental final exam, which causes unnecessary stress and lowers expectations. More effort could be made to include readings from minority authors and to provide support, such as through learning communities.</p>

<p> This yearlong study in an 8^th grade classroom explores a blogging literacy event that illustrates how reading, digital writing and oracy work together to better support student learning, reasoning and dialogue. While many studies separately confirm the role of talk and writing in promoting learning, few studies address how writing informs talk practices, and no known studies examine how purposeful, individual blogging about literature promotes productive classroom dialogue. </p><p> Students within this eighth grade classroom are expected to write and participate in a blog with their classmates about literature they select and read independently. Students then discuss the literature and their blogs in small group conversations with their classroom teacher, leading to rich, meaningful discussions. Focal data consists of student blogs, video recorded small group conversations, audio recorded student and teacher interviews, written student reflections, observation field notes and photographs of student artifacts. </p><p> This study explicates the potential of writing acting as a springboard to further student reasoning through conversation. It documents the flexibility of teacher talk to take student contributions and align them in meaningful ways with educational language and purposes. Even within the confines of regimented curriculum agendas, the study illustrates how teachers can play a variety of roles in which they employ a repertoire of skills and strategies, making decisions in the moment to build on what students bring to the classroom and engender a classroom environment of risk-taking, meaning-making and learning. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Language Education, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 3770. Adviser: Mitzi A. Lewison. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 8, 2008).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--The University of Auckland (New Zealand), 2005. / (UnM)AAI3201547. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-12, Section: A, page: 4359. Adviser: John Hattie.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4681. Advisers: Fred Davidson; Andrea Golato. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-267) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Language Education, 2005. / Adviser: Martha Nyikos.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Pennsylvania State University, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3266198. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-05, Section: A, page: 1921.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of English, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 18, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: A, page: 4530. Advisers: W. Raymond Smith; Christine R. Farris.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Language Education, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 12, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3073. Adviser: Larry Mikulecky.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-05, Section: A, page: 1669. Adviser: Richard C. Anderson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-95) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.