The value of grammar instruction in improving students' writing has been debated for at least 150 years, and is showing no signs of tiring. But would teaching grammar actually improve writing? In fact, study after study has shown that the study of grammar does not translate to improved student writing. Indeed, the basic skills of writing are not…

A basic skills workshop in teaching writing for secondary school teachers held at the State University of New York at Brockport had a focus radically different from the self-defeating skills-drill remediation usually associated with instruction for "basic writing" students. Four assumptions underlay the workshop sessions: (1) all individuals, even…

One way to help basic writers become more effective writers is to encourage them to consider and write about what they do in writing--the problems they face and the satisfactions they glean. Using a scheme that involves using a hierarchy of stages of abstraction in discourse, students can be led to development of their writing skills. One such…

The Basics Skills English 100 course at Slippery Rock University, having changed from a traditional approach to an approach that reflects knowledge gained through research about the needs of basic writers, shows the progress basic writers can make in a summer program. Thirty students met six times a week for five weeks in one-and-a-half hour…

Describes the objectives and background of a project designed to implement change in a school district's written communication program and analyzes the data obtained from writing evaluation forms. (HOD)

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. The first part of the booklet describes a college writing center and the tutorial teaching that takes place in the center. The second part reports a case study of a…

Eight teachers in two-year and four-year colleges discuss in this book their effective methods of teaching writing based on the process of composing. The articles deal with the following topics: (1) the constant interaction of collecting, connecting, writing, and reading in the process of making meaning on paper; (2) the integration of prose…

Two main points should be noted concerning strategies recommended for teaching basic writing students. First, teachers can develop only those strategies that are consonant with their own personalities and that will enable students to develop their own writing strategies. Second, whatever strategies are selected should lead students beyond the…

One of the papers in the final report by the the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, this report looks at the state's undergraduate literacy programs. It has been acknowledged that literacy is the central problem of undergraduate education in America. Six theoretical principles for excellent literacy…

Designed primarily for English faculty at two-year colleges in California, "Inside English" includes articles on instructional innovations in teaching remedial writing, literature courses, and freshman composition; and on major curricular, administrative, and employment issues in the field. The four issues in volume 6 include the following feature…

Designed primarily for English faculty at two-year colleges in California, "Inside English" includes articles on instructional innovations in teaching remedial writing, literature courses, and freshman composition, and on major curricular, administrative, and employment issues in the field. The four issues in volume 7 contain the following feature…

In this issue of "NetNews," the focus is on dysgraphia, a form of writing disability. Both dyslexia and dysgraphia fall under the category of specific learning disability. They may be related because significant language processing problems can impact both reading and spelling--although there is less incidence of dysgraphia. Dysgraphia…

Designed primarily for English faculty at two-year colleges in California, "Inside English" includes articles on instructional innovations in teaching remedial writing, literature courses, and freshman composition, and on major curricular, administrative, and employment issues in the field. The four issues in volume 9 contain the following feature…

With each issue focusing on different themes, volume 18 of "Inside English" looks at he revitalizing literature, teaching as a subversive activity, writing at all levels, and the English classroom of the 1990's. In addition to regular columns on the English Council of California Two-Year Colleges (ECCTYC) and legislative concerns, the following…

Designed primarily for English faculty at two-year colleges in California, "Inside English" includes articles on instructional innovations in teaching remedial writing, literature courses, and freshman composition, and on major curricular, administrative, and employment issues in the field. The four issues in volume 8 include the…