Several barriers hinder students from producing clear and impactful written work. Writing assignments are often given on an individual basis, similar to homework, and without any assistance. Students in a classroom context have access to both their classmates and the teacher while they are working in groups or pairs as part of their assignments.…

Proposes a classroom technique that has students examine texts from different points of view by changing the narrator. The method is an amusing, motivating, and challenging exercise in French composition, and is illustrated in an excerpt from a Camus novel. (MSE)

Discusses the popularity of adventure games in computer assisted language learning and attributes the success of this format to the Input Hypothesis and the Affective Filter Hypothesis. Criteria for the instructional evaluation of these games are presented. (Author/SED)

A teacher of writing in English as a second language shares techniques and exercises that have inspired students to revise the rhetoric, vocabulary, and grammar of their own writing. They include: having students write about an unfamiliar classmate and having the classmate check the description for accuracy; distributing a model essay (Bertrand…

The rationale, approaches, and mechanics of publishing a student yearbook in English-as-a-Second-Language programs are discussed, and examples are drawn from the experiences and practices at the University of Pennsylvania. The production of a yearbook is suggested as a context for student writing that transcends the scope of the essay and that can…

A discussion of the communicative approach in the second language classroom reasserts its value while highlighting some of the difficulties in implementing the approach: time constraints; difficulty in providing motivation for communication in the more formal language registers; potential imbalance in emphasis on oral and written communication…

It is proposed that student motivation can be maintained and enhanced when teachers combine authentic oral and written language with activities leading the student to identify with sympathetic individuals in the target culture. Suggested activities, emphasizing language training at the intermediate level, include interviewing native speakers, work…

A middle school teacher of writing to learners of English as a Second Language describes two techniques used to improve student participation and guide the writing process. The first is to select a writing topic to which all students can relate. In this case, the teacher asked students, in a class discussion, to give their own definitions of…

The collection of articles addresses current issues in adult and adult basic education in Virginia communities. Titles include: "Goal-Setting in the New River Valley: Teachers' Perceptions and Strategies" (Sue Barton); "What Happens When ESL Students Experience Authentic Work Situations?" (Pat Bowyer); "Orientation to…