Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Pictionary and traditional vocabulary strategies on student performance in a 9th grade English Language Arts classroom. The sample consisted of 30 ninth grade honor students who were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group. Data were collected using teacher made tests.…

Writers who double back to alter diction and syntax change their understanding of what it is they are saying, thereby clarifying their understanding and enhancing the discovery of new ideas. Revision, when taken this way, is often a form of invention. The difficulty in teaching revision is that writing has mistakenly been regarded as a linear…

In an examination of two alternative hypotheses about the role played by pauses in the planning of writing, this paper focuses on the long, "pregnant" pause. The first section of the paper examines the two alternative hypotheses about planning, one based on the theoretical perspective of linguistics and the other on the assumptions of…

This paper discusses the use of film in teaching the composing process to students. Beginning with a description of the composing process in general, it continues with a discussion of problem-solving, composing, and film, using "The Shopping Bag Lady" as an illustrative film. This is followed by a consideration of how to use film to generate form…

Computers, if programed to respond to writer-generated content with heuristic strategies, can guide the writer in the prewriting stage. Heuristics are problem solving strategies that can aid the writer in exploring a topic either through a systematic posting of relevant questions or through an unsystematic process of free-association. To date the…

Composition instruction directed at native speakers of English has focused on the composed product rather than the composing process. The teaching of English as a second language (ESL) students has had a similar emphasis, with much classroom time devoted to sentence manipulation and usage exercises. Such exercises have little effectiveness in…

Picture books provide effective models for student writing. For purposes of organization and writing lessons, the models found in picture books may be divided into three groups: (1) language patterns; (2) story structures; and (3) literary elements. Language patterns include repetitive sentence patterns, verse forms, word patterns, and cultural…

This examination of an evaluation of writing based on process rather than on product argues that one of the primary functions of evaluation as a part of teaching should be to diagnose the writing strategies that underlie a writer's current performance, not just textual problems. The first half of the paper discusses the various ways teachers use…

Investigating the differences between students' conventional responses to the identification of writing topics and their responses to matters of real concern (as revealed through the use of "lifewriting" processes in the classroom), an exploratory study surveyed 455 eleventh and twelfth grade students at three large urban high schools.…

Many basic writers who possess minimal composition skills are able to articulate their thoughts but are unable to express these thoughts on paper. The talk-write method of writing rehearsal is an approach that allows these students to experience prewriting and composition processes in an enjoyable way. In the talk-write technique, the student…

Creative problem-solving can be used successfully in the writing classroom, for the problem-solving process involves three distinctive stages of thinking activity that remarkably parallel the prewriting steps in the composing process. Similar stages include: (1) data generation and preparation to write; (2) data manipulation and incubation; and…

Arguing that to consider only the writer's mental processes is an intellectualist view of the composing process that does not present a fully human way of knowing, this paper takes the position that the writer is more than a mind at work and that an account of the writer as knower must include a consideration of the interaction between mind and…

A study conducted to determine if speaking activities facilitated growth in writing involved approximately 60 community college students enrolled in freshman composition. A review of the literature supported the notions that a definite relationship exists between talking and writing, that prewriting activities affect the quality of composition,…

This study explored the influences of prewriting activities on the writing quality of male and female students with varying academic achievement across four grade levels. Participants were public school students in grades 4, 6, 9, and 11. At each grade level, students were assigned to one of two groups: writing with prewriting activities or…

By engaging in philosophical discussion in their writing, freshman composition students can discover that writing is a mediating tool between the self and the objective world, a means to examine the nature of reality and their thinking processes. Introducing philosophical issues opens the door for the investigation of difficult and abstract topics…