This meta-analysis examined if students writing about content material in science, social studies, and mathematics facilitated learning (k = 56 experiments). Studies in this review were true or quasi-experiments (with pretests), written in English, and conducted with students in Grades 1 to 12 in which the writing-to-learn activity was part of…

Research in science education has documented achievement gaps between men and women in math and physics that may reflect, in part, a response to perceived stereotype threat. Research efforts to reduce achievement gaps by mediating the impact of stereotype threat have found success with a short values-affirmation writing exercise. In biology and…

This study used a modified multiple-baseline design to determine the effects on the writing performance of seven students with special needs when a talking word processor with spell checker software was used independent of and in conjunction with word prediction software as accommodations in daily writing exercises. Results indicated that, in…

Systematic practice improved story-writing skills of first-grade subjects. (JH)

Reviews the literature on sentence combining effectiveness; reports on research suggesting that much still needs to be learned about (1) the effects of sentence combining on writing ability, (2) the interaction of sentence combining with other activities, and (3) the efficacy of using sentence combining exercises beyond the eighth grade. (AEA)

Classroom spelling programs should grow out of the children's individual needs and include various writing opportunities. (JH)

The present study tested four research hypotheses dealing with sentence-combining (SC) practice as a component of the language arts curriculum. It examined the progress of 100 seventh graders over a period of three months. No formal instruction in grammar was included. Four classes, controlled for ability, sex, and teacher effect, followed a…

In order to formulate instructional hypotheses and research directions, a profile of seven-year-old children's behavioral patterns associated with the writing process was sought. Eight case study children were chosen from two formal and two informal classrooms in a middle class community. Secondary focus was on gathering data from larger groups in…

Both in standard factors of syntactic maturity and in measures of overall writing quality, first year college students trained in sentence combining achieved significantly higher scores than students following a conventional curriculum. (DD)

The treatment group of college freshmen, which worked with the Strong-Christensen sentence-combining materials during an intensive six-week period, scored significantly higher on two factors of syntactic maturity than the control group. (DD)

Investigates whether students at different ages write "beyond" their normal syntactic maturity. The authors also discuss whether students at different levels write at a level which is syntactically less mature than their own level and, if so, to what extent they adjust their syntax when told to write for a less mature audience. (Author/RK)

This book contends that systematic oral and written exercises enable students to overcome many difficulties encountered in writing English. The first chapter is a general discussion of the teaching of composition today. The second section describes an experiment in oral composition drills in a seventh-grade class. The third section describes the…

Demonstrated effectiveness in eliciting growth in number of words per T-unit through the use of sentence-combining exercises in a college composition course and related frequency of embedding errors to data on length of T-unit. (DD)

Three studies suggest that students involved in observational activities increase the level of specificity in their writing after only 10 to 15 days of instruction and are judged to be more creative. (DD)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a letter-evaluation method would be as effective as the traditional letter-writing method when applied in a college level business correspondence class. One hundred twenty-nine Brigham Young University students were divided into two experimental and two control groups, and categorized according to…