Argues for the teaching of "visible features of written texts," or document design, in composition classes. Concludes that educators must teach students how to see their own texts through the eyes of the readers they hope to attract, converse with, and persuade. (SC)

Investigates gerontological research literature to discover what is known about age deficiencies in cognitive processes which might adversely influence instructional text processing. Maintains that, on the basis of findings, tentative guidelines could be given on designing such manuals. Proposes follow-up research to gather more knowledge on the…

This paper recognizes that critics of the "plain language movement" point out that what is "plain" to one audience may mystify and confuse another. It adds that questions such as "Plain language for whom?" and "How can we know whether a text is written in plain language?" raise legitimate concerns about the…

Despite accompanying drawbacks, the Internet information system known as Gopher presents a rich variety of potential benefits to writing pedagogies and to educational administrators. Writing teachers need to overcome tendencies to think of exploration of the Internet information resources as something to be uncritically adopted and as something to…

Students at Hauppauge Middle School are writing original children's stories and then telling these stories to preschool children. Before middle school students begin writing their stories, they participate in activities to help them develop a sense of their intended audience. As students write their stories, they work in small groups to discuss…