In assessing the evaluation of student compositions, it is evident that even when objectives for freshman composition are established, there is little agreement or consistency among faculty regarding the transfer of these objectives into operational terms. A study conducted at Eastern Kentucky University compared the long term effects of two…

Describes a peer method of teaching writing at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York. (RB)

Noting that writing laboratories at the high school level are gaining more attention as high school personnel learn to adapt successful college programs to their own needs, this paper provides information about a laboratory program that was designed to offer tenth through twelfth grade students individualized instruction both to remediate writing…

University and college reading improvement teachers need a repertoire of techniques designed to guide carefully students' growth in developing independent comprehension strategies. Such strategies should avoid use of prepackaged commercial kits and collections of articles (content-simulated materials) and should stress the application by students…

Three sections (two conventional and one experimental) of English 140 at St. Petersburg Junior College (Florida) were used to investigate whether or not the use of a writing laboratory would lead to writing improvement. The laboratory provided scheduled opportunities for writing revision and improvement through peer criticism and tape-recorder…

The activities and suggestions presented in this document for developing students' writing skills are based on fifteen ideas outlined at the beginning of the book. Part one, focusing on writing within the English course, suggests activities for the following: using reproductions of primary sources, writing directed to a specific and significant…

In order to establish the effects of three different levels of writing lab use on the writing proficiency and attitudes of remedial freshman composition students, three instructional modes were used. Writing lab students spent two hours a week in small group discussions and four hours in the lab, using autotutorial materials. Classroom lecture…

An approach to the teaching of composition undertaken by the University of South Carolina writing laboratory is described in which the objective is to educate students and teachers in the composition process and to discover more about how writing is learned. Focus is on helping people learn to think. (LBH)

This study describes in detail the synthesis of two relatively new, widely accepted and critically approved teaching methods, writing workshops and peer tutoring programs, in a coordinated program designed to improve student writing skills and attitudes. After tracing the origin of this experiment to specific concerns about the use of standard…

At Virginia State College, which has an open-admissions policy, entering freshmen who display serious weaknesses in writing are asked to attend a writing laboratory for two hours each week, in addition to attending their regular freshman writing classes. In the laboratory, students write a series of papers dealing with a particular subject.…

After a brief discussion of the concepts underlying the design of a high school district's composition program that emphasizes teacher inservice preparation and writing as process rather than product, this paper develops a theory of learning language skills similar to that used in learning a second language. A distinction is drawn between language…

This monograph, consisting of four sections, focuses on developmental education in the higher education setting. The first section, by Johnnie Ruth Clarke, provides an overall perspective on learning through developmental programs. Included are discussions of the developmental approach, developmental students and instructional activities, and…

Of special use to departments in 4-year colleges and universities which have responsibilities for preparing teachers of English and for developing in-service projects for 2-year college personnel, this book details instructional techniques and curricular materials for the community college teacher of English and for those in preparation for such…

Drawn from a conference that focused on the present state and future direction of college reading and learning skills instruction, the articles in this collection are arranged into three categories: reviews, investigations and evaluations, and prescriptions and descriptions. Among the topics discussed in the 19 articles are the following: (1) the…