The purposes of this research was to develop English writing skills through techniques of sentence skeleton and signpost word analysis for English major students, and to compare the writing skills before and after the study. The sample consisted of 43 English major juniors at Faculty of Education, Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University, enrolling in…

Suggestions are given for assignments designed to improve general writing skills in conjunction with traditional physical education activities. (LH)

Generating writing ideas is often a serious obstacle for students. Some classroom techniques to help them out of this dilemma include word associating and self-questioning. Students can also construct a matrix chart with the subheadings from their information resources. Once ideas are generated, they can be arranged in appropriate presentation…

Research suggests that good writers differ from poor writers. Teachers who develop prewriting exercises, emphasize multiple draft assignments, help the student think about revision, and evaluate the product can help undergraduates write and think more clearly. (Author/AM)

Sentence combining can teach students one of the most difficult aspects of the writing process--how to construct effective, versatile sentences. In sentence combining exercises, students take a series of short sentences and combine them into a longer and more elaborate sentence in such a way that the important information from each short sentence…

Techniques for stirring students' interest in writing include: (1) exposing them to eloquent language use; (2) group poetry-writing (each student writes one line of a class poem); and (3) adapting why-and-because outlines intended for teaching college writing for use by younger students. Suggestions for obtaining writing quantity and quality are…

Free writing--writing without concern about spelling, grammar, and punctuation--provides students with opportunities to practice without being judged. Some free writing activities are described that allow teachers of subjects other than English to improve their students' writing skills without sacrificing time for their own subject. (JMD)

Based on his experience of being trained in a process-centered pedagogy and of working in a product-centered program, a writing instructor discovers that the in-class essay is not only a useful or workable part of a regressive curriculum, but that it is effective and necessary for any progressive process orientation as well. Pragmatic, ethical,…

Some exercises to allow composition students to express their attitudes about writing courses and to allow instructors to keep more in touch with student apprehensions are suggested. (HTH)

After presenting a series of assumptions about the teaching of playwriting (for example, that students can be taught the craft, if not the art, of playwriting; students must be kept to a strict deadline if they are to develop into disciplined writers; and playwriting should never be discussed outside the context of production possibilities), this…

The instructor of two twelfth grade English classes, one a composition class and the other a general English class, gave both classes some exercises in sentence combining. In the first exercise, the students were given two sentences and told to devise as many combinations as possible. While the composition class contributed more combinations than…

A set of writing assignments and class activities designed to help students analyze their own writing processes, define their own strengths and weaknesses as writers, set their own goals, devise plans for achieving those goals, and evaluate their own progress is presented in this paper. The assignments are explained in detail, and suggestions for…

Discusses how the works of Joyce, "Dubliners" and "Ulysses" specifically, can be used to help developing writers learn about the process of writing and as material for writing exercises. (SRT)

Explores ways in which an expository writing class can encompass training in both professional writing and in the humanities. Presents a writing assignment that combines research in the humanities with writing for decision makers. (HTH)

Outlined are strategies for dealing with the problem of students' lack of ability to verbalize multi-syllable vocabulary words in the sciences. A pronunciation examination, the development of corollary writing skills, vocabulary development, student journals, writing exercises, and microthemes are discussed. (RT)