Because student-teacher conferences appear to be more effective than other methods of writing evaluation, a study was conducted to observe how students' writing changed over a semester and whether those changes were related to the conversations in student-teacher conferences. Two college freshman composition students--one strong and one weak…

The six articles in this journal issue deal with teachers intervening in the writing process (what happens before the student turns in a paper for a grade). The articles focus on the following topics: (1) some objectives and classroom practices for teaching the composing process; (2) a composing profile and a system for developing a student…

The first section of this paper notes that, out of the frustration they feel in lacking a coherent, definitive system for sequencing language instruction, English teachers sometimes turn to the system of grammar teaching used in the past. It then suggests that the English teaching profession is moving through a Romantic age toward a new Classical…

The findings from a study of five students undertaken to determine how unskilled college writers compose, whether their writing processes can be analyzed in a systematic manner, and what an increased understanding of those processes suggests about the nature of composing and about the manner in which writing is taught are presented in this paper.…

Observation and interviews of the children in two third grade classrooms--one in which children write frequently and learn punctuation skills in context, and one in which children learn punctuation in isolation--suggest that punctuation skills are learned more effectively in context. In interviews the "writers" could explain an average of 8.66…

Visual strategies that involve students in comprehending and writing processes while achieving whole-brain input can strengthen the bond between language and experience. Both the analytical, sequential, left brain hemisphere and the holistic, visual/spatial right brain hemisphere can be stimulated in oral and written expression through the use of…

This booklet offers teachers of mainstreamed educationally disadvantaged and learning disabled students some practical strategies for tailoring general writing assignments to meet individual needs. The concept of mainstreaming is discussed in part one, and general strategies for composition teachers are listed in part two. Part three describes 13…

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 first part of the booklet describes a college writing center and the tutorial teaching that takes place in the center. The second part reports a case study of a…

Eight teachers in two-year and four-year colleges discuss in this book their effective methods of teaching writing based on the process of composing. The articles deal with the following topics: (1) the constant interaction of collecting, connecting, writing, and reading in the process of making meaning on paper; (2) the integration of prose…

A detailed description of a three-year project investigating the kinds of writing produced by Australian students in grades 10 through 12 is provided in this report. The various sections of the report describe the aims, objectives, and rationale for the project; some of its major assumptions and influences; a description of the student and teacher…

This is one in a series of eight discussion pamphlets produced by the Writing Across the Curriculum Project dealing with some of the issues connected with writing in the schools and their relation to learning. This pamphlet focuses on project work in the humanities. It uses examples of the writings of 14- to 16-year-old students to demonstrate the…

The value of using a word processor and its features which help English as a second language students improve their writing are discussed, including student assessment, possible teaching methods, and possible learning activities. (CB)

Research-based recommendations for an effective writing instruction program for exceptional students include, among others, allocate a sufficient amount of instruction time; expose students to a broad range of writing tasks; integrate writing with other academic subjects; develop the processes of planning, sentence generation, and revising; and…

Proposes a new way of discussing the writing process by drawing a line between Piaget's cognitive egocentrism and Vygotsky's inner speech. (FL)

Advocates using unassigned, student-generated topics for writing assignments. (EL)