| Effective developmental English instruction for community college students that incorporates rigor and cooperative learning functions during classroom instruction to produce skill set mastery is the focus of this study. The hypothesis of this quantitative research is that developmental English coursework is deficient in the mastery learning of grammatical language structures because the course lacks rigorous in-class cooperative practices, as well as meaningful instructional content (H 1). Thus, when designing this in-class lab instructional SMART model I was inspired by an outstanding selection of scholars who provided guidance for the learning framework. Gagne', Wagner, Golas, and Keller's (2005) systematic instructional design process, Bloom's Taxonomy (1956, 1976), Carroll's (1963) mastery learning model, and Tyler's basic principles of curriculum and instruction provide guidance for the small unit of instruction lab process. Its lab components are well integrated, accommodate diversity, and incorporate critical thinking and active learning techniques as suggested by Boylan (2002). Additionally, Adelman (1996) noted developmental course participation by the underprepared student was a strong factor in degree completion.;Two methods of inquiries implemented that pertained to meaningful content and skill set mastery with rigor and fun were (a) a three-part Survey Monkey link questionnaire comprised of five questions in each part, and (b) a Developmental English Teacher-Student Achievement (DETA) Three-Question Survey. The DETA survey asked faculties to comment on their delivery of instruction experiences. The survey questionnaires were sent out to randomly select English instructors via their faculty emails. In brief, the findings noted that 66.7% of faculty strongly agreed that task engagement, in unison with rigor and interactive learning, promoted holistic learning. Likewise, 87.5% agreed that a lesson on how and when to use demonstratives (this/that or these/those) was necessary. Additionally, 88.89% supported the early organization of lecture content followed by meaningful categorizations of group concerns to maintain a clear focal point when using various task and activities. Surprisingly, 100% agreed that direction instruction was appropriate when teaching on a specific mode of discourse to develop concepts. Overall, this study provided a schema for composition instruction to facilitate increased knowledge of the academic writing process. |
