Students in adult education (AE) programs have limited access to quality writing instruction due to lack of empirical research. The current study is part of a larger research project to design and test the feasibility and effectiveness of a writing curriculum based on strategy instruction with self-regulation. We present the findings of our…

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it aimed to determine whether the application of backward design model has any significant effect on improving the writing ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. Second, the study sought to evaluate the superiority of backward design to conventional forward models in the improvement of the…

There are significant apertures between the history told within historians' scholarship and teachers' curricular resources. The Civil Rights Movement (hereafter, CRM) of the 1950s and 1960s did not start with Rosa Parks' arrest in Montgomery, though it was a spark that inflamed a long-smoldering fire. Nor did it end with Dr. King's dream in…

This study investigates the effects of strategy-based instruction (SBI) on the promotion of learner autonomy (LA). LA was conceptualized and operationally defined as learner self-initiation and learner self-regulation. An intervention study was conducted with the participation of 37 students in an experimental group, and 54 students in two control…

Describes experiences teaching advanced reading and writing at a school for juvenile offenders. (EL)

Teachers' responsibility to improve students' writing entails changes in the teacher, the students, and the school. First, commitment to improvement requires the attainment of new knowledge on the teachers' part. They must be familiar with current research on the writing process and with how to translate that research into classroom practice.…

A University of New Hampshire English department faculty member has been both a student and a teacher in the writing program. As a student she learned, over time, to do more writing in class, rather than in solitude. Time, topic, and structure limits came to be seen as liberating. The writing course encompassed not only conferences and full-class…

A study determined if there was a significant difference in the writing skills of eighth graders after they completed a writing class that based the method of instruction on the writing process. Subjects, 743 students in a midwestern school system, completed the class and were administered pretests and posttests. The results supported the…

Proposing an interdisciplinary approach to writing improvement, Carter presents a plan whereby the social studies teacher becomes an advocate for improving writing in all subjects in the curriculum. Provides a teacher questionnaire, a yearly plan for writing improvement across the curriculum, a writing evaluation instrument, and suggestions for…

Writing samples from third grade classrooms in one site of the National Head Start/Public School Transition Demonstration Project were examined using a process scoring scheme providing holistic, text-level, and sentence-level writing scores. The children in the Demonstration third grade classrooms (both Transition study and non-study children)…

The best thinking and writing is at once personal and public, both infused with private meaning and focused upon the world beyond the self. The goal of writing teachers is to help students learn to negotiate between the two, to locate those dynamic points of connection where experience gives rise to inquiry. Notwithstanding the often eloquent…

Outlines a desirable writing program that will fit the needs of students in the computer age. (CRH)

There is no single program for improving student writing, but there are common elements of programs that help kids learn to write well. Likewise, there is no professional development program that provides all the skills and knowledge a teacher will need to improve student writing--and, ultimately, student learning--but there are common elements…

Unlike trends in reading and writing instruction which are shortlived, such as speed reading, performance contracting, and the i.t.a. (initial teaching alphabet), certain influences exist which contribute to lasting improvements in reading and writing. Several factors can help to distinguish trends from the more permanent influences on education.…

Offered as a result of suggestions by Maryland teachers, this guide serves as an instructional reference for educators on teaching functional writing at the elementary and secondary school levels. The guide was developed as a supplement to volume one; both volumes provide a comprehensive perspective to writing improvement in Maryland. The first…