The Students' Voices in Developmental Education

Abstract

This dissertation explores community college students' perceptions and assumptions about developmental education in writing classrooms. The study focuses on students who have taken at least one developmental writing class at a two-year college, with an interest in those who chose not to continue their educational goals. The study uses grounded theory within an inductive framework; data was collected utilizing focus groups and interviews. While many studies have been conducted in the Developmental Education field, very few have centered on the voices of students. Current discussions across the nation about the fate of developmental writing education classes in higher education warrant a closer look not only at what is being done from an educator's standpoint, but also what students think about the knowledge and skills they have acquired in developmental writing classes. Specifically, this study has been guided by the question: How do students in developmental writing classes at a rural two-year college in North Carolina perceive the value of course content and instruction? This qualitative study of a single site develops a research heuristic that can be replicated in additional sites in order to better understand the complexities of developmental education as seen from the point of view of students. Overall, this study discovered knowledge that will assist faculty and administrators as they are challenged to redesign current developmental writing educational practices.