Proposes that a unified theory of writing be sought as a basis for teaching composition, and that such a theory come from theories of mind and learning already developed. (RL)

An 11-year-old's discussion of five school writing assignments sheds light on the composing process and on learning-through-writing. (AA)

The theoretical bases of process-oriented approaches for teaching writing to mildly handicapped students are described. Instructional features of such approaches include opportunities for sustained writing, establishment of a writing community, student selection of topics, modeling of the writing process and strategic thinking, reflective thinking…

Discusses three principles germane to the idea that writing is a response to its function, compares school writing with home writing, and suggests specific functions of writing that are frequently used in classrooms. (DF)

Explains how journal writing, taught with some direction, can guide students' writing and provide them with a sense of self-discovery. (HOD)

Examines the relationship among writer, context, and text (1) by exploring the notion of context-independence as it pertains to writers and texts, and (2) by placing the issue of context and composition within a wider framework of context and language use. (FL)

Using Susanne Langer's concepts of presentational and discursive symbolism, constructs a theory of text production that describes presentation and discourse and relations between them as major components in the evolution of text from thought to written language. Concludes by examining the implications of this theory for understanding students'…

Examines two responses to current traditional rhetoric--the new romantics who insist on the primacy of discovery and the new classicists who believe in aiding discovery through systematic heuristic procedures. (HOD)

Notes that considerations of audience awareness are receiving increased attention in composition theory and teaching. Argues that while audience awareness is often conceived as a unitary, global construct, it in fact has distinctly identifiable dimensions. Discusses the dimensions of social cognition along with their interaction with the composing…

Analyzes the steps in the writing of an established poet and an 11-year-old boy. An appendix provides suggestions about how to encourage meaningful revision. (FL)

Describes classroom experiments, using invisible writing which produces a carbon copy while preventing scanning during the composing process, to examine how different writing tasks differ in their cognitive demands and how the need for scanning may indicate the cognitive difficulty of the task. (HTH)

Investigates how writers plan to produce discourse for different purposes--to report, to generalize, to persuade--as well as how writers plan for sentence level units of language. To learn about planning, an observational measure of pause time was used. (HOD)

Describes a writing assignment that has been used with high school students, college freshmen, and graduate students to help them more adequately understand their own composing processes. Argues that heuristic methods are extremely powerful teaching tools and that teachers should learn the theory on which they are based. (TJ)

Asserts that the literature on the use of writing in sociology ignores a systematic view of how writing relates to the discipline of sociology. Examines C. Wright Mills' concept of "sociological imagination." Provides suggestions for teachers who require student writing and seek to help student become better writers. (CFR)

A 3-year project examined the cognitive effects of word processing on writing processes and products. In particular, the project examined effects on writers' planning, reviewing, and revising in a series of six assessment studies. Among the most important results of the project were that writers using word processing alone--both student writers…