Within the context of a basic composition class, writing stories allows teacher and students to have a conversation about issues that are important to the class and creates a space for students in which they can work on developing particular kinds of textual attention. Assignments are designed with the following questions in mind: What can…

Teachers in the social sciences have found that journals can be useful tools in their classes. Depending on the needs and preferences of the teacher, a variety of formats can be used: highly structured journals based on regular teacher-directed classroom and homework assignments or completely free-form diary-like personal types. No matter what the…

Teaching always occurs in a rhetorical context. It involves discovering and maintaining a proper balance among three elements at work in any communicative effort: the available arguments about the subject itself, the interests and peculiarities of the audience, and the voice of the speaker. Teacher management of the classroom, writing assignments,…

A writing exercise used in one college-level introductory Spanish literature course has been found helpful in converting student frustration into a challenge and changing perceptions of the teacher from adversary to ally. When the first reading assignment is due, the teacher tells the students how frustrating the class can be and lets them begin…

In training courses for writing tutors, an electronic mail forum is a particularly useful writing-to-learn activity because it gives tutors-in-training important experience with the collaborative intellectual processes at the heart of writing centers. In one particular class for tutors at Marquette University, Wisconsin, the assignment for the…

There are compelling reasons to use talk in the writing classroom to improve both expressive and expository writing. First, speaking is natural, and students come to the writing classroom linguistically well-developed and confident. Second, talking encourages exploration of words by slowing down the thought process without completely stopping it.…

Use of a directed creative writing exercise to assess intermediate language students' skills is discussed. The technique was developed for second-year college Spanish instruction as an alternative to conventional writing tests in which anxiety or lack of motivation may inhibit performance. Differences in the nature of language skills (listening,…