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)

Describes a study of the features of British children's narrative writing, at ages 7, 10, and 13. The results indicated a progression from a simple chronicle of events, through simple stories based on a disruption of the probabilities, to more highly developed stories. (HTH)

Describes an informal classroom research project that explored how children perceive the changes they make in their writing and what they think about when they write. (HTH)

Describes observations of classrooms in which the teachers participated with the students in writing exercises. Discusses the three teacher/writer roles that emerged during the class--teacher/writer as model, teacher/writer as learner, and teacher/writer as human being--and the bond of understanding that developed as the teachers as students…

Responds to criticisms from the preceding article that writing process research, specifically that of the author, has not extricated itself from pedagogy and the classroom. (HTH)

Follows changes in children's writing from the first through fourth grade, presenting case study data that show how children's writing shifts from play to craft. (GT)

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 children's story-writing processes as they develop over a two-year period, from kindergarten through second grade. Observes that children reflect multiple worlds in their writing, including their ongoing social world, the imaginary world of their story, and the wider, experienced world of people, places, and events. (MM)

Describes observations of one student's writing process and the ease with which the student transformed prose into poetry. Discusses what the teacher learned from the observations about the sensitivity and energy of eighth-grade writing students. (HTH)

Examines the differences between writing research conducted in England and that conducted in Canada and North America. Discusses how educators and researchers have used their observations to derive a pedagogy and have done so much too rapidly. (HTH)

Discusses materials in the ERIC system dealing with inservice session on writing as a process, improving teacher writing skills, conducting classroom research, and improving teaching attitudes. (HTH)

Describes the growing autonomy of three young siblings as they wrote in the poetic function over a five-year period. Includes samples of the children's poetry. (HTH)

Describes a British writing assessment project intended to discern age-specific characteristics of writing and the project's subsequent assessment model. Evaluates samples of two kinds of writing, autobiography and argument, using the model. (HTH)