This book demonstrates how researchers and practitioners in writing and rhetoric studies can engage in story work across differences in culture, language, locations, and experience. Based on an ethnographic study in Nepal spanning a decade, Katie Silvester speaks with and to the stories of Bhutanese women in diaspora learning English later in life…

Indicates that using highlighters to mark errors produced a 76% class improvement in removing comma errors and a 95.5% improvement in removing apostrophe errors. Outlines two teaching procedures, to be followed before introducing this tool to the class, that enable students to remove errors at this effective rate. (JD)

Based on recent findings in writing research, this document offers the following recommendations on how teachers can improve the writing skills of their students: (1) spend time on activities that require real writing rather than short answers and fill-in-the-blank exercises; (2) have students spend more time putting their thoughts on paper in a…

Summarizing the wealth of recent research on sentence combining as an effective method of teaching students to tighten and vary their written sentences, this booklet explains how and why sentence combining works. The first half of the booklet provides background information on sentence combining, exploring the basis for the claim that sentence…

A study examined whether self-evaluation of writing should precede peer evaluation, and explored effective strategies for peer evaluation of writing. Seventy-six advanced placement English students in a Raleigh, North Carolina, high school were divided into experimental and control groups. The control group participated in peer evaluation of…

Presents five research-based writing models to help student writers analyze their composition processes: (1) discovery, (2) direct writing process, (3) five-stage process, (4) write-talk-write, and (5) four key questions. Discusses advantages and disadvantages of each model. (PD)

Proposes three basic strategies of inquiry essential to good writing and reports the results of studies on these strategies. (JL)

Dialogue journals are recommended in this digest for teachers who want to involve every student in a literacy practice that unites reading and writing and encourages thinking and reflection. The digest first explains that dialogue journals are useful because they use writing as a genuine means of communication between student and teacher. Dialogue…

Offers resources on technical writing published in 1981. Arranges the citations under the following categories: bibliographies, books, reviews, and articles on the profession; theory and philosophy; pedagogy; technical speech; research; designing degree programs; technical writing and the computer; writing technical articles and reports;…

Offers resources on technical writing that were published in 1980. Arranges the citations under 12 categories: bibliographies, books, reviews, and articles on theory and philosophy; pedagogy; writing technical articles and reports; research; technical writing and the computer; graphic/visual aids; correspondence; technical speech; and designing…

Intended for teachers of basic writing, this book contains a collection of new and updated essays addressing issues surrounding underprepared writers. It maps errors and expectations for basic writing and develops teaching approaches that will be effective in a social and political world. The book considers concepts such as the possibility of…

Peer tutoring has a long historical precedent in western civilization. Since its reemergence in the United States during the 1960s, it has been used for every age group, subject matter, and level of intelligence. Numerous research studies have shown the benefits of peer tutoring, its efficacy in the college writing center has caught the attention…

Reports on the application of six criteria to determine writing ability among secondary school students. Offers suggestions for instructing a class of students with wide variations in writing skill. (MM)

Provides a brief review of research concerning the relationship between reading and writing, and of instructional strategies suggested by that research. (AEA)

Reports the highlights of the first year of the National Study of Secondary School Writing, which provides new information about secondary school writing instruction. (RL)