A freshman composition course taught to a group of science majors at Case Institute of Technology was based on the premise that learning to write involves a stylistic response to style. This book presents, through the eyes of the course's teacher, a novelistic account of teaching and learning. Thirty assignments that were given to the students are…

Increasing numbers of teachers seem to recognize that sequencing assignments is an effective way to teach writing. A sequence of 20 writing assignments was developed by four composition instructors at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado. The first eight exercises asked cadets to look at and think about their physical surroundings at…

So that the non-English speaking students could grasp the simple rudiments of English composition with any degree of accuracy, the Oscar Rose Junior College developed a two-semester program involving a sequential, syntactical, linguistic, multimedia approach to composition. The four media utilized are talk-tapes, visual-aid cards…

Research in secondary school composition instruction indicates that (1) emphasis on writing for the teacher-as-examiner is prevalent, (2) prewriting activities are limited, (3) there is little discussion of approaches to the topic or what information should be included, and (4) activities to help students while they are writing are almost…

A journal-based college composition program has been developed that links journal writing to the development of competence in more formal writing. Students write both free choice and assigned entries, and their entries become the basis of all the themes they write; in-class assignments focus on the improvement of specific aspects of the journal…

A writing course structured on the principle that personal experience essays should be written as arguments that draw out a conflict or opposing view can help student writers avoid producing prose that is either too abstract or too concrete. Students can be taught to approach the personal essay as a special type of argument on a particular…

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. It describes four sequences for teaching writing developed by four teachers at four different levels--kindergarten through grade three, intermediate grades, grades…

The effectiveness of the Kates method of teaching composition, which involves regular, sequential writing assignments and teacher/student conferences, was investigated using an experimental group of 142 ninth-grade students in six classes and a control group of 78 students in two classes. The experimental classes wrote approximately 14 essays in…

IN THE PAST DECADE, ENGLISH AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT HAS BEEN REASSESSED TO ESTABLISH PRIORITIES, SPECIFY THE TASKS OF THE ENGLISH TEACHER, AND CREATE EFFECTIVE SEQUENTIAL, INTEGRATED PROGRAMS WHICH BALANCE CONTENT AND SKILLS. THIS SUMMARY REPORT CONSIDERS EMERGING CONCEPTS IN THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND COMPOSITION, AND THEIR APPLICATION…

Composed by English teachers at the elementary, secondary, and college levels, this book describes practical methods for teaching writing. Part one contains essays on issues related to teaching writing, such as motivation, evaluation, and teaching sequence. Part two describes more than 100 practical lessons for classroom use, each of which…

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ROLE OF READING IN A STANDARD TWO-SEMESTER FRESHMAN ENGLISH COURSE IS EMPHASIZED IN A DISCUSSION OF THE BASIC CONCEPTS, PURPOSES, ORGANIZATION, RESEARCH, AND METHODOLOGY OF THE COLLEGE FRESHMAN ENGLISH PROGRAM. INCLUDED IN THE DISCUSSION ARE AN EXAMINATION OF WHAT ENTERING FRESHMEN SHOULD KNOW TO SUCCEED IN COLLEGE ENGLISH, A…

The classroom-tested ideas for teaching writing described in this booklet are based on the beliefs that writing is a teachable skill, that it is a process with constituent steps, and that students need evaluation at each stage of writing. Following an introduction that identifies eight steps in the writing process and discusses class organization,…

A sequential series of writing assignments designed and tested for a tenth grade writing workshop through the cooperative efforts of college and technical high school English teachers is discussed in this paper. Twelve assignments and their underlying educational theories are explained. The first six assignments are described as progressive and…

Teaching organizational strategies to language-disordered children can improve comprehension and formulation of written language. The semantic organizer approach involves activating and organizing prior knowledge, understanding text structure, and developing organizational strategies with both a verbal component and a graphic-structure component.…

A method is described for teaching writing of English as a second language that emphasizes exposure to genuine, useful language and opportunities to use it. Sample exercises are provided that illustrate seven stages of writing: free writing, analysis, presentation, controlled writing, guided writing, free writing, and modelling. (MSE)