Students' oral reading fluency growth from first through fourth grade was used to predict their achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test (9th ed.; SAT-9 Reading) using a latent growth model. Two conditional variables related to student status were used to determine the effects on reading performance--English language learners (ELLs) with low…

First-year students are still failing at an alarming rate. This is an international issue that universities face and there is currently no clear indication of the cause of the problem as universities move from being elite to providing mass education. This article examines the possible correlation between students' high school performance and…

Two problems which the language arts teacher encounters are the effect of science on language teaching and the nation's commitment to "excellence for all" as measured by objective examination. Scientists, who value exactness, objectivity, and control, have imposed their values on language and have attempted to construct machines that will use and…

Seven major kinds of "bad" or "dishonest" marking systems much used by English teachers ar" briefly described. English teachers are urged to be more aware of recent publications which evaluate various marking systems. (BN)

Recent theories that composition instruction should focus on the writing process rather than on the product have proven valid. A corollary, or a result, of this development has been the growing attacks on grades and grading. While evaluation provides effective instruction, grading is of limited relevance and may be misleading and harmful without…

This article contains an analysis of a component of a large-scale reform effort in an urban school district that entailed placing high school students identified as underperforming in literacy in separate classes aimed at accelerating their learning. The relationship between students academic performance and social backgrounds, school…

In spring 1992, a mid-term assessment of English 10 students was conducted at Golden West College, in California, in order to compare four course placement methods. English 10, "Writing Essentials," is a nontransferrable course which focuses on paragraph writing and grammar review in order to prepare students for entry into English 100.…

THE BOOKLET CONSISTS OF 14 IMPROMPTU THEMES WRITTEN IN 50 MINUTES BY FRESHMEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MADISON. TEACHERS' COMMENTS ARE INCLUDED FOR EACH THEME, AND A BRIEF HEADNOTE TO EACH GROUP OF THEMES EXPLAINS WHY THEY WERE RANKED "UNSATISFACTORY QUALITY,""MIDDLE QUALITY," OR "SUPERIOR QUALITY." THE…

The low rate of agreement among readers of College Entrance Examination essays suggested the need to examine the qualities in student writing which caused wide variance in grading. To study this question, 300 homework papers by freshmen at three universities were graded by 60 distinguished readers in six fields. The following factors, by rank,…

THE RISING WORKLOAD OF ENGLISH TEACHERS FOSTERED THIS FEASIBILITY STUDY WHICH USED DICTATING MACHINES TO TRANSMIT TEACHER COMMENTS ON COMPOSITIONS TO STUDENTS. APPROXIMATELY 600 STUDENTS IN 30 SECTIONS OF FRESHMAN ENGLISH WROTE PRE- AND POST-EXPERIMENTAL THEMES. IN CONTROL SECTIONS, TEACHERS GRADED ASSIGNED THEMES IN THE TRADITIONAL WAY WITH…

Characterized by its establishment of desirable outcomes in language arts instruction for pupils of each grade level, K-12, this guide presents a sequentially-structured program of active student participation and flexible, individualized instruction. The first chapter lists basic concepts for language, language development, and the purposes and…

Two instructional techniques, Teams-Games-Tournament (TGT), and Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD), contain a team component and a comparison-among-equals component. To separate the effects of these two components on academic performance, mutual attraction, and student attitudes, a 2 x 2 factorial design was used, varying reward structure…