This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of peer-review in college English as Second Language writing classes to improve ESL students' writing scores. It also investigated a statistically significant difference in college ESL students' writing scores between those who use the self-check list and peer review worksheet and those who…

The much-criticized Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) is not aligned with current Common Core literacy standards, is expensive, has a low pass rate on the first try of 66%, and keeps People of Color from joining the profession (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2019). The test maybe replaced with coursework. Critics…

This practitioner inquiry dissertation is situated within the context of U.S. education policy that persists in defining literacy as print-based and privileges standardized literacy assessments as the singular measure of what students "know". Decades of literacy research have shown that such orientations to education policy and resulting…

University writing programs increasingly serve student populations of growing diversity: more international students, first-generation students, disabled students, racial and ethnic minority students, and LGBTQ+ students, for example. Instructors thus teach in classrooms with many cultures and subcultures represented. Amid increasing demographic…

Many special education (SPED) students are failing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) despite writing instruction provided by SPED teachers. The purpose of this study was to understand teachers' perceptions about why students were failing the literacy/writing test and document whether evidence-based assessment and writing practices…

Researchers have found executive functioning (EF) to be important for reading and math performance but have paid less attention to their role in writing. Van Dijk and Kintsch (1983) identified three levels of writing: microstructure, macrostructure, and superstructure. The existing work on EF and writing has several limitations: researchers have…

The field of composition studies has benefitted from applications of feminist, materialist, postcolonial and similar critical theories to the teaching and study of written texts. In addition, critical theories continue to make a significant impact on the teaching and study of writing and other co-fields of inquiry such as writing center and…

This study investigates how university instructors from various disciplines at a large, comprehensive university in the United States evaluate different varieties of English from countries considered "outer circle" (OC) countries, formerly colonized countries where English has been transplanted and is now used unofficially and officially…

Higher education institutions concerned with authenticity and accountability have begun to take part in a movement towards implementing e-portfolios, also known as electronic and digital portfolios, to assess student-writing skills in various courses. As a result, writing instructors are increasingly being required to learn the technology of…

The purpose of this case study is to document the ways in which fifth-grade students in a historically, low-performing school learned to write from a teacher who did not emphasize test-taking processes. The study demonstrates how these instructional practices in a writing workshop context positively affected the student performance on a statewide…

With increasing emphasis on school readiness and early childhood programs as the foundation for academic success, the impact of implementing writing instruction in the primary grades has garnered interest. A survey done by the National Writing Project revealed that 69% of Americans believed that writing should be taught in all grade levels. The…

An interactive Web site was developed and investigated to determine whether interaction on the site among college and high school teachers of writing could result in the formation of an interpretative community. An interpretative community is one in which meanings are stable (Fish, 1980), and which adjudicates student writing with a high degree of…