A cognitive-based system of analysis of spoken discourse was designed to provide details about the way pupils think and talk about issues arising from prose material. Written and spoken responses were analyzed to examine the effects of intellectual ability, differences in the stimulus passage, and prior small group discussion. (Note: Page…

Provides fully developed library media activities that are designed to be used in connection with specific curriculum units, including foreign language (Spanish); reading and language arts (expository writing and use of a thesaurus); science and social studies (land biomes, state birds, and country's flags). (LRW)

A program at Rutgers University (New Jersey) to integrate information literacy into first-year composition courses involved librarians and faculty. The pilot project included two research seminars within each course. Evaluation of the project revealed a successful basic strategy, useful techniques and elements, and some areas for adaptation and…

The effects of an intervention--Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing--to improve students' expository writing abilities was studied. The program emphasizes teacher and student dialogues about expository writing strategies, text structure processes, and self-regulated learning. Results of 183 fourth and fifth graders indicate that dialogic…

The paper examines two types of texts, personal experience narratives and expository discussions, dealing with the shared theme of interpersonal conflict. Both were produced by the same 80 subjects, participants in a crosslinguistic study on developing literacy: gradeschoolers aged 9;0 to 10;0, twelve-to-thirteen-year-old junior high school…

CraftPlus is an integrated learning package that consists of a K-8 spiraling, core writing curriculum based on explicit Target Skills instruction; professional books; grade-level Curriculum Guides; sixteen workshop and classroom demonstration DVDs; and a CD with student samples and other classroom support materials. The grade-level Curriculum…

To explore the suggestion that subjects modulate their reading strategies in accordance with how they expect to be tested, several test expectancies (multiple-choice, true/false, essay, and cloze) were implemented in addition to a non-specific test expectancy as a control. Subjects were 124 students at Purdue University (Indiana). After reading…

The inferential operations of mildly retarded students reading at the intermediate level were investigated using methods based on discourse comprehension theory. It was hypothesized that problems encountered in reading by these students were related to difficulties in generating logical inferences. Mildly retarded junior high school students and…

The second statewide direct writing assessment was conducted for grade eight by the California Assessment Program (CAP) in the spring of 1988. Each student wrote an essay in response to 1 of 45 prompts (writing tasks) representing 6 types of writing: autobiographical incident, report of information, problem solution, evaluation, story, and…

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…

To explore student facility with argumentative writing, 40 persuasive essays of 5th, 7th, and 11th grade students were analyzed for their relative percentage of reporting (narrating), interpreting, generalizing, and speculative sentences. Fifth and seventh graders were found to use significantly more narrative and fewer generalizations than older…

This book is designed to assist those who work with non-English dominant students by providing resource information relevant to second language teaching and learning. The articles in the series encompass both theory and practical learning techniques in six general topics. The third text of the series includes five articles on reading and writing.…

Four systems for scoring student essays were used to classify eleventh grade and undergraduate students according to writing ability. The reliabilities of the raters and the validities of the systems in classifying students were emphasized. Two analytic scoring systems--which assume that quality writing is characterized by the inclusion of certain…

A desirable approach and sequence for the presentation of rhetorical principles to students of junior high school age is outlined. Principles of invention, logical ordering, strategy, and style are discussed with special reference to writing models, developing skills of observation, audience consideration, and precise diction. Specific objectives…

Argues that comprehension is a problem-solving activity and that different problem-solving schemata exist for different types of texts, both narrative and expository. Suggests that good comprehension occurs when there is a match between the author's schemata and that of the reader, creating a dialogue between the writer and the reader. (JK)