Literacy scholars have called for writing instruction to promote civic engagement, student agency, and multimodal composing. This study addressed this call by describing a research-practice partnership to reimagine writing instruction in a high school English course by incorporating human-centered design challenges. Using case study methods, we…

The first "Connecting Practice and Research" column (Lampi, Dimino, & Salsburg Taylor, 2015), introduced a Research-to-Practice partnership (Coburn & Penuel, 2016) between two faculty from a community college and a university professor who were aiming to develop effective integrated reading and writing (IRW) instruction through a…

Introduces writing instructors to theories of instructional design that form the foundation to support effective student learning. Discusses how best to support students in online environments. Concludes with suggestions for faculty support and training for online course delivery. (SG)

Reviews research on effective writing instruction. Recommends ways to integrate that research with findings from research on struggling writers and effective teaching practices. Discusses a model of collaboration between researchers and curriculum developers aimed at helping publishers translate research into instructional practice. Illustrates…

The awakening of public interest in curriculum has come at a time when, within the education profession, the conventional wisdom about teaching and learning has itself undergone a major transformation. New Constructivist theories of knowing have emphasized the social nature of the construction of knowledge: students learn by "putting it into…

Presents a course design for a graduate level seminar in writing for students concentrating in either composition and rhetoric or TESOL for the Master of Arts in English at Wright State University. Notes that the course focuses on curriculum design and integrates the practices of teacher lore with the disciplined, critical thought expected in a…

To assess the value of professional writing internships, a pilot study at Michigan State University will administer pre- and post-tests to students involved in internships, as well as to control groups composed of professional writing majors who do not participate in internships, and other English majors following a traditional curriculum of…

Presents the results of a two-year teacher/researcher collaboration between Liz, an experienced high school English teacher, and David, a university researcher in writing across the curriculum. Describes the experience of the school studied and presents some reactions of teachers to the experience. (SG)

To show how whole language theory can be put into practice, this collection of articles, many written by practicing teachers, suggest ways that teachers can help students become active participants in their own learning. Following an introduction, chapters and their authors consist of: (1) "Insights from Recent Reading and Writing Research…

Narrates an imaginary dream in which an instructor, newly crowned King of Composition, institutes, while providing rationales based on current research, these changes in the composition program: (1) have all teaching done in conference; (2) eliminate textbooks; (3) do not require grammatical and mechanical correctness; and (4) make writing part of…

Describes the writing program at Pepperdine University, where some of the composition sections incorporate a service learning component. Makes a case for service learning as a productive space in a composition course. (TB)

Presents the idea that many tactics sports coaches use in training and improving athletes' performance can be adapted for the instruction of remedial writers. (JC)

Notes studies defining important communication skills for a wide range of job categories, but which many courses in business, technical, and science writing are not providing. Suggests changes for the basic business communication course, including modes of writing and rhetorical principles. (HTH)

Whole language learning, which is often defined in abstract terms, is discussed in terms of its rationale, its practical applications, its implications for how communication skills are taught, and its classroom implementation. (JL)

Describes the Written Literacy Forum, a collaborative research effort between Michigan State University's Institute for Research on Teaching and the East Lansing, Michigan Public Schools, which attempted to identify ways that research on writing could be applied to instructional problems. Depicts the first year's experience and offers sample…