Protocol analysis and a literature review were used to determine the ways novice and expert writers, from elementary to postsecondary levels, deal with the cognitive processes that constitute writing. They found that writing is goal-directed, writing goals are hierarchically organized, and writers accomplish their goals through planning, sentence…

Discusses ways in which talk during writing and group discussion can help children's writing, including (1) helping teachers learn to listen, (2) teaching children to elaborate and clarify, (3) giving children experience with an audience and reasons for writing, (4) helping children gather ideas and assistance, and (5) teaching children to be…

Argues that microcomputer programs in LOGO can support children's development of invented spelling within a language experience approach. Presents protocols of three nursery school children using such programs that show promising growth in their writing and reading skills. (FL)

Using J. Dewey's "reconstruction of experience" concept of revision, a study employed ethnographic methods to investigate the effects of computer assisted writing instruction on students' revising processes. Primary subjects, eight sixth-graders, completed a structured revision task on their compositions, with varying degrees of computer…