This project examined the words selected for instruction from fourth-grade English/Language Arts (ELA) and science programs with the goal of describing the unique words in these two text types. Seven features of the words were established: (a) length, (b) frequency, (c) frequency of a word's morphological family, (d) familiarity, (e) dispersion…

This book provides a practical classroom guide to unlocking the treasures of informational texts. It also aims to demonstrate that reading and writing nonfiction can overcome the gender gap, allowing girls and boys to share interests in any subject from bugs and magnets to gardens and cake baking. It explains the use of a range of instructional…

Students will combine reading with descriptive writing in this lesson plan. Embedded in this project are skills, such as compiling, composing, defining, describing, illustrating, rewriting, and validating. During nine 30-minute sessions, students will: read and discuss "The Giver" by Lois Lowry in order to create meaning from the text; read short…

Intended for students taking the Grade 9 English Language Arts Achievement Test in Alberta, Canada, this booklet contains the writing portion of the test, which requires the student to write an expository composition in response to four reading selections within the framework of a given situation. The booklet contains space both for planning and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: methods for teaching students of English as a second language and remedial students in freshmen composition courses; Maryland community college English teachers' backgrounds and attitudes…