Whether dealing with their native or a foreign language, both teachers and students have consistently found writing skills to be difficult to achieve. Students are concerned about initiating and structuring their thoughts, while teachers struggle to inspire their students to improve their writing capabilities. Hence, this experimental study…

For any curriculum area that entails writing, digital storytelling could transform students' perceptions of and their actual abilities to express themselves through the written word. The use of two Web sites has helped the students of one school go from staring apprehensively at blank pages to eagerly publishing stories.

Fuses theories about Basic Writers and writer's block. Addresses, through the use of hypertext, how computers can help Basic Writers who experience this writing difficulty. Discusses the two main branches of students' difficulties (problems with genre and problems with the linearity of texts) which may be partially alleviated through the…

Explains how a computer-based basic writing course relied on small group communication and cooperation to surmount fears of the computer and of writing. Argues that the course helped students work through the "I-You" polarity, the disparity between the author ("I") and the writer ("You"). (TB)

To learn more about the impact of word processing on the writing of college freshmen, a 2-year study involving 320 students of average writing ability investigated whether (1) students using word processors write significantly better than those who do not; (2) manipulating and improving sentences on a screen affects students' awareness of grammar,…

This annotated bibliography contains 26 references on writing apprehension found in the ERIC database. The bibliography contains citations from the period between 1985 and 1989 and is divided into four sections. The first section lists sources of teaching ideas. Citations in the second section deal with the use of computers in alleviating writing…

D. P. Thompson (1987) pointed out that the e-mail network can help students work collaboratively, solve problems, and experience writing as communication in the real situation. This study examined the impact of e-mail debate on intercultural sensitivity, writing apprehension, and computer anxiety. Fifty-four students in two sections of a…

To learn more about the initial effects of word processing on essay-writing performance and on writing apprehension, eight English instructors at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, conducted a one-semester controlled experiment with freshmen in eight randomly selected college writing classes. Eighty students wrote essays using terminals…

This document consists of six issues of a newsletter that provides a forum for the sharing of research findings and instructional strategies by faculty of Western Michigan University. Issue Number 1 addresses writing in the Writing Across the Curriculum Program with notification of a faculty workshop, hints on how to encourage good writing, and a…

Reports a study of the initial effects of word processing on essay-writing performance and on writing apprehension. Concludes that college freshmen using word processing showed greater progress in writing performance from pre to post essay tests than did those using traditional methods, but they did not show significant difference in writing…

Describes an ethnographic study of an inservice graduate course designed to help teachers use computers to teach writing and other skills to the academically able. Claims the course significantly reduced teachers' computer anxiety and their writing apprehension. (RS)

Argues that computers can be useful partners in the writing process even for reluctant or poor writers. Describes from a linguistic perspective factors that help explain why writing is a difficult task and briefly describes several computer programs which are based on such factors. (RS)

This study investigated the effects of the WebQuest Writing Instruction (WQWI) program on Taiwanese EFL learners' writing performance, writing apprehension, and perception of web-resource integrated language learning. Participants were students from two junior college classes. One class received traditional classroom writing instruction and the…

A qualitative study examined the revision of writing on the word processor of two re-entering students in advanced composition in comparison to three traditional-age students. Its purposes were to see whether there was any difference in adaptation to the word processor between the two groups and whether each writer had a consistent revision…

More than half of the entering freshmen at Rio Grande College in Ohio are required to take developmental English. In addition to having grammar, reading, and writing difficulties to overcome, most of these students have negative attitudes toward writing. In an effort to improve students' writing skills and attitudes, word processing instruction…