Literacy Crises: A bibliography for composition and rhetoric


Rebecca Moore Howard
The Writing Program
Syracuse University



Please note: I'm increasingly using CiteULike and del.icio.us for my bibliographic work. (On both sites you'll need to click on tags of interest.) Browse what's on this page and then check out CiteULike, del.icio.us, CompPile, and the MLA International Bibliography (requires SU ID) for more. A list of all the static bibliographies that I've put online is here.


Please email suggestions, corrections, or additions.


Last updated 1 May 2006

Bartlett, Thomas.  "Why Johnny Can't Write, Even Though He Went to Princeton."  The Chronicle of Higher Education 49.17 (3 January 2003):  A39.  <http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i17/17a03901.htm> 3 January 2003. 

Bauer, Laurie, and Peter Trudgill, eds.  Language Myths.  New York:  Penguin, 1998. 

Cazden, Courtney B., and David K. Dickinson.  "Language in Education:  Standardization Versus Cultural Pluralism."  Language in the USA.  Ed. Charles A. Ferguson and Shirley Brice Heath.  New York:  Cambridge UP, 1981.  446-469.

The College Board.  "National Commission Calls for a Writing Revolution."  25 April 2003.  <http://www.writingcommission.org/pr.html>.  30 April 2003. 

The College Board.  "Ten-Year Trend in SAT Scores Indicates Increased Emphasis on Math Is Yielding Results;  Reading and Writing Are Causes for Concern."  Princeton, NJ:  College Entrance Examination Board, 2002. 

Connors, Robert.  "Crisis and Panacea in Composition Studies: A History." Composition in Context: Essays in Honor of Donald C. Stewart.  Ed. W. Ross Winterowd and Vincent Gillespie.  Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1994.  86-108.  [file Comp History]

Connors, Robert J., and Andrea A. Lunsford.  "Frequency of Formal Errors in Current College Writing, or Ma and Pa Kettle Do Research."  College Composition and Communication 39 (1988):  395-409. 

Connors, Robert J.  "Mechanical Correctness as a Focus in Composition Instruction."  College Composition and Communication 36 (1985):  61-72.

Daniels, Harvey A. Famous Last Words: The American Language Crisis Reconsidered.  Southern Illinois UP, 1983. 

"Deconstructing Composition."  Colloquy.  Chronicle of Higher Education 13 March 2003.  <http://forums.chronicle.com/colloquy/read.php?f=1&i=1583&t=1583>.  14 March 2003. 

Dillon, Sam.  "What Corporate America Can't Build:  A Sentence."  New York Times 7 Dec. 2004.  12 Dec. 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/business/07write.html?pagewanted=print&position=>.

Freund, Deborah.  "A Strategic Partnership for Innovative Research and Education."  Syracuse University, 28 March 2001.  <http://acadplan.syr.edu/speech.html>.  30 April 2003.

Freund, Deborah.  "A Strategic Partnership for Innovative Research and Education (A-SPIRE):  An Academic Plan for Syracuse University."  Syracuse University, April 2001.  <http://acadplan.syr.edu/Acadplan418.html>.  30 April 2003. 

Gee, James Paul. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. 2nd ed. Bristol, PA: Taylor and Francis, 1996.

Haswell, Richard.  Gaining Ground in College Writing: Tales of Development and Interpretation.  Southern Methodist UP, 1991. 

Hill, Jane H.  "The Racializing Function of Language Panics." Language Ideologies:  Critical Perspectives on the Official English Movement.  Vol. 2.  Ed. Roseann Due–as Gonz‡lez.  Urbana, IL:  National Council of Teachers of English, 2001.  245-267. 

Jenkins, Henry, and David Thorburn.  "The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy."  Democracy and New Media.  Ed. Henry Jenkins and David Thorburn.  Cambridge, MA:  MIT P, 2003.  1-20. 

Lewin, Tamara.  "Writing in Schools Is Found Both Dismal and Neglected."  New York Times 26 April 2003.  <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/26/education/26WRIT.html>.  30 April 2003. 

MacFarquhar, Laura.  "Who Cares if Johnny Can't Read?"  Slate 17 April 1997.  <http://slate.msn.com/id/3128/>.  Accessed 9 June 2003. 

McLemee, Scott.  "Deconstructing Composition."  Chronicle of Higher Education 21 March 2003.  <http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i28/28a01601.htm>.  14 March 2003. 

Musgrove, Laurence. "The Real Reasons Students Can't Write." Inside Higher Ed 28 Apr. 2006.

The National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges.  "The Neglected 'R':  The Need for a Revolution in Writing Instruction."  The College Board.  April 2003.  <http://www.writingcommission.org/>.  30 April 2003. 

Prose, Francine.  "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read:  How American High School Students Learn to Loathe Literature."  Harper's Magazine (September 1999):  76-80, 82-84. 

Read, Madlen.  "Too Many Workers Are Bad Writers."  CBSNews.com 14 Sept. 2004.  22 Dec. 2004 <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/14/national/main643250.shtml>. 

Resnick, Daniel, and Lauren B. Resnick.  "The Nature of Literacy:  An Historical Exploration."  Harvard Educational Review 47 (1977):  370-385. 

Ridgley, Stanley.  "College Students Can't Write?"  National Review 19 February 2003.  23 February 2003.  <http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-ridgley021903.asp>. 

Rooney, Megan.  "Survey Finds Split between What College Instructors and High-School Writing Teachers Value in Student Writing."  Chronicle of Higher Education 9 April 2003. <http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/04/2003040903n.htm>. 

Rose, Mike.  "The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University." College English 47 (1985): 341-359.

Russell, David R. Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1870-1990: A Curricular History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1991.

Schroeder, Christopher.  "Academic Literacies, Legitimacy Crises, and Electronic Cultures."  Journal of Literacy and Technology 1.2 (Spring 2001).  <http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/v1n2/schroeder/schrfrm.html>.  

Sheils, Merrill.  "Why Johnny Can't Write."  Newsweek 92 (8 December 1975):  58-65. 

Standards for Success.  Center for Educational Policy Research, 2003.  <http://www.s4s.org/projectoverview.php>.  30 April 2003. 

Stone, Marvin.  "Bonehead English."  Time 106 (11 November 1974):  106. 

Stone, Marvin.  "Due Dismay about Our Language."  U.S. News and World Report 86 (23 April 1979):  102. 

Strauss, Valerie.  "Educators Demand Upgrade in Writing."  The Washington Post 13 May 2003.  <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43776-2003May12.html >.  Accessed 13 May 2003. 

Testing. 

Trimbur, John.  "Literacy and the Discourse of Crisis."  The Politics of Writing Instruction: Postsecondary.  Ed. Richard Bullock, John Trimbur, and Charles Schuster.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann, 1991.  277-295.

Winerip, Michael.  "Discovering Crisis, Again and Again."  New York Times 30 April 2003.  <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/30/education/30EDUC.html?ei=5070&en=6f6ab1a97f275a73&ex=1052971200&pagewanted=print&position=>.  Accessed 13 May 2003.