The six-sentence argument (6SA) is an exercise to train critical thinking skills. Faced with a decision situation, students argue for their preferred course of action using a logical structure of exactly six sentences. Through a guided peer review, students engage critically with other students' arguments and receive detailed feedback on their own…

Since July 2013, our research team has been working on a project that aims at re-introducing rhetorical exercises in Belgian secondary (high) schools and at studying their effects on the pupils. Our hypothesis is that the regular practice of rhetorical exercises, inspired by those practised in Antiquity, could stimulate skills like…

When it comes to academic work, students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have the required knowledge but struggle to get their thoughts down in writing. This is a practical guide to teaching and improving writing skills in students with ASD to meet academic writing standards and prepare for the increased expectations of higher education.…

Teaching mathematics in real-word contexts is a strategy to make math relevant for undergraduate students. However, very little research exists on students' methods of integrating contextual and mathematical knowledge through writing. This study uses an interdisciplinary writing assignment to investigate the relationship between students' written…

Describes the use of cases in technical writing and ancient exercises of impersonation and "suasoria." Discusses similarities between the two, and argues that the historical tradition both validates and broadens the uses of this modern methodology. (RS)

Describes an approach to composition instruction in which the students are given a body of real or fictional evidence about a particular case and asked to interpret or explain it by means of a closely-reasoned argument. (HTH)

Techniques are suggested for teaching and learning writing skills. (Text is in French.) (PMP)

Describes using the parallels between developing the persuasive essay and an advertisement to help advertising students become aware of the importance of voice, point of view, and audience. Students complete a written essay modeled after the language and techniques employed by advertisers. (HTH)

Autobiographical writing can, by its nature as expressive discourse, connect to the residual orality and literacy that students possess before they enter college writing classes, because it crosses more easily between the spoken word and the written word than other forms of writing. Adapting the Ong-Havelock orality-literacy thesis to writing…

Existing evidence suggests that students do less well in writing argument than they do in writing narrative reports, and the reasons for the poorer performance are complex and interactive. In some ways argument is more cognitively demanding than narrative, but lack of experience in persuasive writing, and the interrelated nature of the writing…

A technique sometimes known as patterned prose or case book exposition is an effective way to improve student writing while also holding their interest. It may also help solve a problem pointed to by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): students' inability to think about what they read. The technique is simple. The teacher…

Describes a critical writing assignment in which students assess the role that television "soap operas" have played in relationship to the students' culture and to themselves. The assignment includes collection and separation of material, unifying arguments, enlargement of perspective, and analysis and illustration. (HTH)

Provides suggestions on various English instruction topics. Includes (1) "Argumentation Exercise," Hari Vishwanadha; (2) "How to Survive Developmental (or Any Other) English," Sally Russell; (3) "Reach Out to an Expert," Norma A. Register; (4) "Summary and Response Writing," Alec Valentine; (5) "The Living Journal," Blair Spencer Ray; and (6)…

Outlines two assignments: (1) analyzing an article from the popular press for its use of slanting and propaganda devices; and (2) writing an article that incorporates various techniques of slanting and propagandizing. Includes two "slanted" articles about Walter Mondale's presidential campaign to use in this exercise. (MM)

Describes an assignment to focus students' attention on the thinking process in which students write dialogues that reproduce concretely the dialectic movement of a formal argument. Includes a more advanced exercise in which students' address the remarks of literary critics. (HTH)