Suggests methods for (1) teaching study skills to secondary handicapped students, (2) building a reading instruction resource room, and (3) demonstrating main ideas. Reports the results of a survey of school administrators' reading attitudes. (AEA)

Examines students reported and demonstrated knowledge of three structural properties of text: topic relatedness, superordination, and cohesion. Reports students are only moderately knowledgeable about topic relatedness and superordination, and unknowledgeable about cohesion. (RS)

Literacy instruction materials developed by literacy workers are presented. Most of the materials are intended for a variety of student proficiency levels; one is intended for teachers. The first four sets, all illustrated with photographs, include a story about playing the lottery, the description of a shopping trip for jeans and shoes, a…

An experiment with students in a first year college German course was carried out to study the value of free writing assignments and to discover a feasible and helpful correction method. Research in English composition methodology indicates that extensive teacher's corrective marks have a detrimental effect on a student's progress. Yet, foreign…

James Joyce's use of interior monologue (the interior self of the character is given directly, as though the reader were overhearing an articulation of the stream of thought and feeling flowing through the character's mind) can help basic writers in developmental classes. Students can be given excerpts from Joyce and asked to turn the sentence…

Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that a paragraph composed of sentences with identical or closely related topics would be easier to read than one whose sentence topics were only remotely related. The first experiment involved subjective judgments by 131 high school students on the readability of two paragraphs identical in…

To show the shortcomings of concentrating on the teaching of sentences and paragraphs in basic writing courses, this paper points out problems encountered by one teacher who attempted to use that approach. The paper describes how the teacher discovered that teaching the rules and concepts of grammar and writing stifles students' creativity,…

Applicable to kindergarten through grade 12, the individualized Language Arts composition program is based upon actual student experiences. Once student writing samples have been plotted on a diagnostic grid, the program's manual provides teachers with specific methods for meeting students' needs. Uniting cognitive, affective, and creative…

As one of five modules focusing on writing skills, this module on proofreading, composing, and editing is intended for use in a one-semester course on written communication or as a supplement to other courses where written communication skills are included. Designed for both teacher-directed and individualized learning situations, this module…

In this collection of 18 essays drawn from reports of the Yale Conferences on the Teaching of English, high school teachers present ways to handle problems relevant to all English classrooms. Essays on the teaching of language include a discussion of grammar, a definition and illustration of language study, and a consideration of the kinds of…

This collection focuses on writing exercises, both expository and creative, as well as areas of adjacent concern. The book is divided into nine major sections: prewriting; diction; theme, thesis, and paragraph; style; ideas for whole papers and special topics; description; research; the short story; and rewriting. The exercises deal with such…

The obvious necessity for a freshman English course which is geared to the individual student's needs, prior preparation, and writing behavior prompted the formation of an experimental course at the University of Texas. Three major components--diagnostic tests, contracts, and computer-assisted instruction--provide the framework for a…

This article proposes to teach writing from the hypothesis that true writing and good prose are only end products rather than the primary objectives. The author suggests that producing an effect in a reader and revealing the self in words are prior achievements in the process of learning to write well. Criteria for judging writing are based…

This paper deals with the computer's production and recognition of sentences in a connected discourse and its application to computer assisted instruction. Studies of textual properties in real discourses have been carried out at the paragraph level. The theoretical concepts of representing paragraph content in terms of (1) the factual data…

This text is designed for students of English as a second language for intermediate and advanced levels of proficiency. The text is based on an approach to writing which is semantic and cognitive. Providing for active transfer of each student's knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, it bridges the gap between controlled writing and free writing.…