We evaluate the use of a Virtual Exchange (VE) writing task, Stimulus Writing, which we assigned to groups of UK and Finnish business students. There were two learner cohorts in the study: one in the UK (mainly Chinese students), the other in Finland (mainly Finns). The Finnish students wrote authentic case studies about Nordic businesses, while…

A recent (2015) study conducted by the Society of Human Resource Managers concluded that nearly half of US employers, across industries, believe recent college graduates to be lacking in requisite competencies for communication, broadly, and writing, in particular. This paper describes an advanced writing course in public relations that seeks to…

Many students consider the writing of papers to be a lonely, difficult, and even painful process. To enable these students to improve their essays and research papers, a teacher has used a collaborative method of writing called the group paper. This method encompasses the various stages of writing, from freewriting of first drafts through multiple…

Discusses the benefits to be derived from full collaboration in the writing process. Suggests that students learn from sharing their abilities and difficulties and gain emotional and technical support from working with their peers. This is particularly helpful for those students who lack confidence in their writing. (RBW)

Describes a course unit on fiction writing with an emphasis on motivating students to see value and relevance in writing. (RAE)

Although student writers will accept evaluation more readily from their peers than from their instructors, beginning writers in particular hesitate to offer suggestions to another writer because they do not want to hurt their fellow students' feelings, and because they do not feel they know enough to evaluate someone else's work. The collaborative…

Presents a rationale for studying collaborative writing and evidence that coauthors can learn about the writing process from each other. Explores collaborative writing as an activity that can help students expand their repertoire of writing strategies and their mastery of written communication skills. Describes a case study of fourth and fifth…

Organized to help make use of dialogue journals, this pamphlet presents a description of how this instructional aid can be used in a number of different classroom settings and for a variety of purposes. The booklet provides many samples of dialogue writing that enable the reader to see how this form of natural writing can become an effective…