English 7975 (Developmental English in the Two-Year College) provides graduate students in English studies a critical, theoretical, and practical space for examining the concepts that surround “developmental” courses in English.
The two-year college (or “community” college) in the United States has an interesting history, growing out of early 20th century pushes for pragmatic education beyond the high school level. Early two-year colleges, rooted firmly in local communities and contributing primarily to the local workforce, have historically been spaces for achieving two related though distinct goals: 1) educating an intensely diverse group of non-traditional, older adult learners and 2) providing a “buffer” between high school and the four-year university for students who feel (or have been told that they are) unprepared or underprepared to succeed at the four-year school.
This course looks at the particular contexts and challenges that are inherent in the two-year college system as they apply to the teacher of English, particularly in regard to courses labled “developmental”, “remedial”, or “basic”. English in the two-year college means, primarily, “composition”, but this course will examine both reading and writing as spaces that have marked students as unprepared for “college-level” work. We’ll also examine what we mean when we say “college-level”.
Graduate students who plan to make a career of teaching (or at least a start) at the two-year college will find the discussions and projects in this course particularly useful.
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