Offers a fanciful dialog between Socrates and his followers to present findings about spelling development. Discusses the work of two scholars (Frank Smith and Steven Krashen); then discusses various hypotheses. Concludes that effective spellers get to be that way because they read as if they were writers; and a strong relationship exists between…

Discusses research on the nature and strategies of children's invented spelling, including a developmental model of such spelling. Suggests ways to encourage invented spelling, while examining whether it will interfere with learning to read and write standard spelling. (HTH)

Reviews research studies on the nature of children's understanding of the writing process and how teachers can better help children learn to write. (HTH)

Reveals the lack of research on children's writing and suitable writing instruction in the last 25 years. Points out the inadequacies in the research that is being done and the need for better research methods that take writing context and environment into account. (HTH)

Documents the progressive spelling strategies and improvement of one third-grade student over the course of eight drafts. (HTH)

Drawings and writings of two children produced for each year from age four to eight were presented to "experts" in the field of style to see if they could determine which student did each picture or paragraph, based on stylistic consistencies. Concludes that style is inherent in a child's first compositions. (HTH)

Reviews research and theory to illustrate the issues that face language arts educators as they deal with gender issues in the classroom. Suggests that educators have often failed truly to face the complexity of such issues as legitimate and worthy of attention in the classroom. (RS)

Reviews approximately 15 years of exploration of children's emergent writing and the transition into conventional writing, covering the period from infancy through first grade. Illustrates a progression from descriptions of children's proficiencies to collaborations between classroom- and university-based educators that are aimed at increasing…

Reviews the research relating reading and writing, offers instructional implications of that research, and points out directions for further study. (JL)

Explores questions of concern for writing research in the areas of context in writing and the teaching of writing. Discusses some research designs and procedures. (HTH)

Examines typical elementary school teachers' marks on student writing assignments, which place greater emphasis on mechanics at the expense of content. Suggests ways in which writing program effectiveness might be improved by shifting focus to the development of creative and effective content, during which mastery of mechanics will occur…

Examines two trends in research on literacy--formal and functional literacy--by analyzing some assumptions held by researchers representative of each. Indicates that formalists view literacy as mastery of linguistic and textual forms, while functionalists see it as the ability to use appropriate discourse forms to accomplish desired ends. (SKC)

Discusses research on home literacy environments, the values of reading aloud, independent reading, literature and writing, and literature in the language arts curriculum. (RS)

Reviews research about the uses readers and writers make of text structure schemata and, additionally, about what reading-writing relationship research and collaborative learning research suggest for designing instruction to build schemata for text structure. Describes one in-process research study that attempts to address these issues. (SR)

Examines the distinct and sequential aspects of revision in the writing of first graders, as determined through a teacher's classroom research. Lists factors to consider when adjusting teaching styles to children's early writing processes. (HTH)