In the last 10 to 15 years, a number of higher education institutions have initiated model cooperative programs with high schools to strengthen secondary composition instruction. The Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP) in California involves a 5-week summer seminar in which both secondary and postsecondary instructors write the kinds of compositions…

Reviews research on sex differences in language use. Describes a study of the language patterns of 20 female college students in basic writing or freshman composition. Addresses instructional implications. Reviews relevant reading theories, discusses the relationship between women's language patterns and their reading schemata, and recommends…

Although there are many retrospective accounts from teachers and professional writers concerning the effect of computers on their writing, there are few real-time accounts of students struggling to simultaneously develop as writers and cope with computers. To fill this void in "testimonial data," a study examining talking-aloud protocols from a…

A study conducted in a freshman English class in a Taipei (Taiwan) university investigated how peer response groups functioned in their native language (Mandarin Chinese) and English, a second language. Analysis focused on (1) whether there were qualitative differences in the comments students made about peers' writing in the two languages, and…

The University of South Alabama addressed a rapid increase in the population of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in its freshman composition classes by developing classes in writing in English as a Second Language (ESL). These students were having difficulty in mainstream freshman composition classes, both with the proficiency level…

This issue presents works in progress by students and professors at the University of Pennsylvania. Papers are generally based on research conducted for courses offered in the Language in Education Division of the Graduate School of Education. This issue contains the following papers: "Do Second Language Learners Need Negotiation?"…

Noting that college-level critical thinking instruction is now an interdisciplinary movement coordinating such fields as English, rhetoric, philosophy, and developmental psychology, this digest surveys the history of critical thinking studies in these converging disciplines and argues that literature study preeminently encompasses the mental…

Since 1985, students taking English 101, the basic composition course at Shoreline Community College (SCC) in Seattle, Washington, have been required to take the Nelson-Denny Reading Test and submit a piece of writing for holistic grading. The introduction of the testing process prompted several questions among students and faculty about what the…

Arguing that practice without theory is destructive, this books deals with the theory, philosophy, and application of a variety of subjects within the area of composition. The nine chapters of the first section of the book constitute a state-of-the-art essay and discuss such topics as J. Emig's 1971 study of the composing process and the more…

An approach to developing college students' critical thinking skills, designed for freshman composition students but adaptable for other disciplines, is outlined. Components include: establishing bounds of analysis; using bibliography to foster scholarship; capitalizing on emotional response; learning the genre to be analyzed by writing in it;…

By building up the confidence of student writers, writing teachers hope to reduce the hostility and anxiety so often found in authoritarian introductory college composition classes. Process oriented writing theory implicitly defines confidence as a wholly personal quality resulting from students' discovery that they do have "something to…

A course at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis offers students the opportunity to learn argumentative writing, while becoming aware of scholarly discourse in the arts, humanities, and sciences. Students realize that what once passed for a simple argument in everyday life becomes more sophisticated as they learn about research…

In response to a new Taiwanese educational policy reducing the importance of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) education for non-English majors at the university level, a survey was undertaken of the 17 universities concerning their Freshman English for Non-majors (FENM) curricula and the degree of control over instruction held by teachers.…

In reorganizing its core curriculum, Duquesne University (Pennsylvania) created a course that combined the required freshman composition and speech communication courses. A two-term pilot course offered eight hours of credit, meeting for one hour three times a week and for a two hour lab once a week. Oral readings were assigned in order to help…

This report describes the Learning Disabled College Writer's Project, implemented at the University of Minnesota during the 1985-86 school year and designed to aid learning disabled college students master composition skills through training in the use of microcomputer word processors. Following an executive summary, an introduction states the…