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Abstract
This is a multiple case study examining two distinct paths, developmental English and English for Academic Purposes, for language minority students academic literacy development at a four-year, access, public college in the Southeastern United States. It is also an examination of the impact on these programs and students of state-wide policy changes on developmental education, which stem from a national college completion reform movement. Study data included interviews with students, faculty, and administrators, relevant documents and course artifacts, classroom observations, and some limited quantitative data regarding both programs. The study identified varied disciplinary cultures that have shaped two different cultures of writing. Using a Communities of Practice framework, the programs were found to consist of distinct joint enterprises, with differing levels of mutuality among student and faculty community members, and to have developed a unique set of shared repertoires within each program, all of which had a profound impact on the learning opportunities available to language minority students. The study also found that statewide policy changes were being put into effect to further truncate the developmental program and eliminate the EAP option, mandating that all entering freshmen, even those still acquiring English, embark on their gateway, college-level English class in their first year. These changes were implemented with little to no input from L2 professionals or, indeed, from L2 students themselves. The impact of these changes for language minority students language and literacy development is discussed from a critical language policy perspective.