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…

This article presents the results of an action research study whose purpose was to apply alternatives for the development of grammatical competence in a group of third semester students of a Morphosyntax I course in an English language teaching undergraduate program at a Colombian public university. Given the fact that the teaching of grammar has…

Many students who are nonnative speakers of English, yet highly proficient, are placed into basic writing or English as a Second Language courses when they enter college. While these students may have advanced oral English proficiency, their writing frequently suffers from a lack of training in academic writing and commonly contains fragments and…

An assignment to write a comment in less than fifty words encourages conciseness and precision. (JH)

There is evidence that the ability to produce syntactically complex structures in a foreign language can be accelerated through a different strategy for teaching writing. A writing strategy is outlined which introduces the student gradually and in a very structured way to the concept of sentence-combining. (CHK)

In this article a method to improve sentence writing ability called sentence combining is explained. The potential effects of sentence combining are related and relevant research summarized. In addition, how to introduce sentence combining practice to a class, key instructional components including oral practice and peer assistance, sources of…

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…

Precise and effective writing can be taught and learned; a knowledge of grammar makes it easier both for the student and teacher. (Editor)

By focusing their attention closely on a written text, cloze passages help students learn more about how language works--the interaction of vocabulary and syntax, the influence of diction on style, the important grammatical relationships between words in a sentence, and the logical relationships between sentences in a paragraph. (HOD)

Sentence combining techniques can be used with basal readers to help students develop writing skills. The first technique is addition, characterized by using the connecting word "and" to join two or more base sentences together. The second technique is called "embedding," and is characterized by putting parts of two or more base sentences together…

Special issue devoted to teaching Level II French. (DS)

To determine the effects of oral sentence-structure exercises upon student writing, a 1-year experiment was conducted with two randomly matched fourth-grade classes of approximately equal size, one control class and one experimental class. The experimental group regularly completed exercises designed to teach students to produce sentences…

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. The basic principles of literary cohesion (the way a text hangs together) are discussed and exercises are suggested to help students increase their sensitivity to…

The seven major articles in this journal issue are devoted to literature and to literary analysis. The articles deal with the following topics: (1) collapse and regeneration in Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," (2) freedom and identity in "Invisible Man," (3) the character of St. John Rivers in "Jane Eyre," (4) integrating poetry study and…

Answers to questions asked of college freshman composition students indicated that one-third lacked confidence in their ability to write because of their ignorance of the rules of grammar and inability to use correct grammar. This may be a result of the textbook presentation of grammar as a straightforward set of rules to be mastered without…