Describes the background, materials, and implementation procedures for the Expository Writing Program. Points out that research has shown that participation in the program helped good and poor readers improve their composition and comprehension of informational texts. (ARH)

The expository writing difficulties of exceptional students are examined in relationship to the writing process, expository text structures, and students' metacognitive knowledge. Approaches to the teaching of expository writing are discussed, and a dialogic approach, involving teacher modeling and a series of think sheets, is described.…

Describes the Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing (CSIW) program by discussing: (1) knowledge bases that are useful for expository writing and reading; (2) features of instruction inherent in CSIW that help build knowledge for successful writing and reading; and (3) the effect of CSIW on students' expository writing and reading. (MG)

In response to teachers' requests for specific information about implementing the curriculum in the Expository Writing Program (EWP), this manual presents the instructional methods and materials used during the Teaching Expository Reading and Writing Project. First, the lines of research that formed the basis for the instructional program are…

Examines fifth- and sixth-grade students' metacognitive knowledge about the processes of writing narrative and expository texts. Finds that creating a communicative context enhances students' awareness of audience and purpose, as well as their understanding of different aspects of the writing process. (MG)

To determine students' metacognitive knowledge of the expository writing process, a study analyzed fifth and sixth graders' declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge by means of group questionnaires and individual interviews at all stages of their participation in one of three year-long writing programs. The programs emphasized social…

Four studies by the Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing project at the Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, examined the acquisition of expository writing skills in fifth and sixth grade students. The first study examined the effects of teaching sixth grade students about comparison/contrast text structure. Results…

The first in a three year sequence, the study reported here investigated how knowledge of text structure affects reading comprehension and writing production. Specifically, the focus was on the development of an appropriate scaffold for teaching fifth and sixth grade students to use text structures effectively in comprehending social studies texts…

The second phase of a 3-year project examining the effect of a process approach to writing instruction on students' expository reading and writing skills, a study determined the impact of three writing programs that emphasized different aspects of a process-oriented writing environment. Data were gathered from 159 fifth and sixth grade students…