As an Assistant Professor at Northeast Riverside Community College, I planned this action research project in order to seek solutions for the persistent problems of low retention and achievement faced by students designated to multiple semesters of basic literacy coursework. Writing 60 is the first developmental writing course of a two-course sequence required for students with significant skill gaps. Students are identified as appropriate for Writing 60 based on their college placement test scores. In my redesigned Writing 60 course, I maintained adherence to the college identified course objectives listed on the master course syllabus, but altered my former approaches to lessons, materials, reading selections and writing tasks with careful consideration of culturally relevant pedagogy and the critical language approach. Twenty-seven students registered for two sections of the redesigned Writing 60 course that ran in the fall semester of 2016. In order to assess the influence of culturally relevant pedagogy and the critical language approach upon course outcomes, I utilized a mixed methods design, and collected both quantitative and qualitative data. Attendance data, student persistence, and passing rates, were collected from the two sections of the redesigned Writing 60 course and from 12 sections of the previous Writing 60 course that I also taught from spring of 2014 through
spring of 2016. Additional data was gathered from students enrolled in the redesigned Writing 60 course that included pre- and post- student motivation surveys, pre- and post- assessments of academic writing, field notes I collected throughout the semester, student completed checklists of major assignments, and two focus groups that I audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes. The implications of the data I analyzed suggested correlation between the modifications of the course and improved attendance, retention, and passing rates
