Using a smartphone is a very convenient way to learn languages in modern life. To understand the impact of the immersive environment created by a smartphone on essay writing in Chinese for second language learners, a study was conducted on 36 Vietnamese students in their first year at a university in Taiwan. This study adopted an experimental…

Addressing the lack of studies on L2 online and collaborative prewriting, this study examines L2 collaborative prewriting through voice chat. It explores the effects of an online prewriting condition (individual vs collaborative) on performance in subsequent individual writing as assessed by text length, accuracy, complexity, and analytical rating…

This English Language Arts Achievement Test was designed to evaluate the writing skills of third grade students. It includes instructions in which students are asked to write their own stories after reading a "story starter." The test instructs students to use their imaginations to finish the story and encourages them to do a prewriting…

Addresses the absence of a diagnostic instrument to help determine if a student is experiencing problems with invention. Provides two diagnostic models, one based on L. Odell's intellectual strategies, the other on the author's extrapolation of criteria from tacit informal diagnostic estimations. Includes evaluation of the instruments by 40…

Practical classroom activities for teaching narrative/descriptive writing exist which are based on approaches to teaching writing that research indicates improve the quality of student writing. Teachers need to do less lecturing to students about what they should be doing in their writing and more actively involve their students in the learning of…

A study focused on the problems of poor performance in classroom assignments and state-wide writing assessments of middle grade students in the practicum setting. The goals of the practicum plan were: (1) to improve teacher competency in the steps of the writing process; (2) to improve student attitudes about writing; and (3) to improve writing…

The result of the collaborative efforts of seven writing instructors and based in part on the Bay Area Writing Project, this writing guide is intended for teachers in grades one through six. In the first part, the first of four sections suggests instructional techniques and activities, includes student writing samples, and defines the writing…