Some teaching strategies grow out of the curricula educators inherit or develop through professional reading; others originate in the aromatic humus of their autobiographies. This article presents a proposal that has its origins in the latter. The author recognized that what delights her in prose or poetry is the figurative language a writer uses…

Describes a study of student writing completed in one basic writing program. Measures the effectiveness of individual papers written in the program's two-course sequence by rating each against a modified "primary-trait" scoring scale. Finds that students made gains in the trait areas examined. (EMH)

A study examined the growth in basic writing and grammar skills of 14 developmental English students. The study determined whether a traditional rule-based, form-centered mode of instruction, combined with a limited writing-process approach, had any significant impact on overall writing quality and grammar skills. It used a quantitative,…

Describes a six-week summer remedial writing program at the State University of New York at Buffalo, which utilized instructional approaches designed to accommodate students' learning styles. Results on pre- and posttests of essay-writing ability, sentence fluency, and attitudes toward writing revealed improvements in all areas following the…

Presents results from a study of eight college freshman to determine differences between revising essays on-screen and on-paper. Eighty-one percent of on-screen changes were above the mechanical or word level, often related to meaning and content. Students working on-screen tended to add more information and recreate paragraphs, but sometimes…

Asserts that taking Introduction to College Writing, a fundamental writing course at Central Missouri State University, improves student academic achievement by developing their basic writing skills and preparing them for more advanced, general education writing courses. (VWC)

Contends that student writing compositions and instructor feedback offer special benefits when rendered orally via audiocassette. Promotes a "reader-based" writing sensibility in students, who read their work onto cassette tape, and allows greater flexibility in grading and critiquing for instructors, who return the tape with detailed comments.…