Examines the sometimes puzzling behavior of writing teachers as they look for errors in language usage. Questions whether many of these teachers would notice the occurrence of certain features they call errors if they were not searching for errors in the first place. (RL)

Describes some of the key intellectual actions that underlie the process of revision in writing and that most affect its practice. Provides a working model of revision and discusses diagnosing problems and devising solutions. (HTH)

Examines some of the research on reasons for teachers' diverse reactions to student writing. Also looks at research on student reactions to teacher responses to their writing. (HTH)

Examines composition research in the annotated bibliographies appearing from December 1984 to May 1989 in the journal "Research in the Teaching of English." Considers the question of what has been learned from this large corpus of research. Focuses on topics on which little research has been done and areas in which enough work has…

Discusses the collected research on free modifiers and "minor sentences," or "formal fragments." Asks English teachers for less concentration on initial placement of modifiers, less rigidity concerning fragments, and more practice with punctuating final free modifiers. (RL)