Analyzes the 1972 Minnesota NCTE Seminar on Research in the Teaching of English, records impressions of the experience, and discusses future concerns of researchers. (RB)

Examines the history of research on the teaching and learning of English as reflected in the 20-year history of the Promising Researcher Award. Focuses upon changes over time in the kinds of questions asked, topics addressed, conceptual frameworks employed, and methodologies used in the studies. Reveals a strong but shifting influence of…

Reviews recent complex and somewhat confusing evidence on writing-to-learn. Draws on the field of cognitive psychology to offer a way to reconceptualize how researchers might approach the study of the impact of writing on learning. Considers five methods for assessing structural changes in knowledge due to writing. (MG)

Considers the doubts the author has had about the design of an award winning study, focusing especially on a researcher's obligation to help the teachers with whom the researcher is working, even at the risk of jeopardizing a study's design. Traces the way that her engagement with that question has led to her current professional commitments. (SC)

Until experimenters can achieve some measure of control over access to information associated with their writing stimuli and outcome measures, research in composition will have a difficult time providing meaningful information on the unique effects on writing of such things as training programs, ethnicity, previous education, and sex. (HOD)

Discusses the necessity of a logical conceptual basis for research, the desirability of using multivariate designs and statistical analysis for educational data, and the need for training English education graduate students in statistics and design. (RB)

The disappointing results of research into growth in writing skills may be due to students being tested for skills other than those they have been taught.

Summarizes a study of five unskilled college writers, focusing especially on one of the five, and discusses the findings in light of current pedagogical practice and research design. (DD)

The research methodology of the National Assessment of Educational Progress reports on Literature Achievement is critiqued. Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Procedures (Exercise Development).

There is little or no uniformity to be found in the skills and knowledge of doctoral students planning to do research in English and reading. (JH)