This study synthesised previous literature focused on college English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes for writing. A meta-analysis of identified longitudinal studies (14 samples; 175 effect sizes; N = 602) revealed that the students improved their English writing through EAP programmes (d = 0.45, SE = 0.07, p < 0.001). By computing…

Transforming Writing is a two-year action research project which aims to develop a model for the teaching and learning of writing that more fully incorporates a focus on embedded formative assessment. In the first year of the project, the 12 participating schools developed a model of writing underpinned by Talk for Writing, an approach developed…

This article describes a cognitive argumentation schema for written arguments and presents three empirical studies on the "myside" bias--the tendency to ignore or exclude evidence against one's position. Study 1 examined the consequences of conceding, rebutting, and denying other-side information. Rebuttal led to higher ratings of…

The Oakland County School District in Michigan is in its fourth year of sponsoring the Oakland Writing Project. Research concerning whether the activities are having a positive influence on instruction and whether students are writing better as a result of the project has been, for the most part, informal but important. Project participants have…

Explains how faculty at Quinnipiac College reconceptualized developmental English and designed a new program that provides additional instructional time within the regular freshman English course. Finds that developmental students are better motivated and achieve growth in reading and writing commensurate with students who had a prior semester of…

A descriptive study investigated whether a common middle-level writing program exists, and what factors impact the writing program and the relationships among these factors. A random sample of 1,500 classrooms in California and Missouri stratifying on four grade span school types (K-8, 6-8, 7-8, 7-9) was chosen. A survey was developed, sent, and…

A study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher-researcher program begun in the Fort Worth Indpendent School District to improve and assess students' writing abilities. The study sought to determine if there was a noticeable improvement in the writing skills of students studying with the teacher-researchers as opposed to students studying with…

A study assessed the effects of the Mason program (a supplementary language arts program in which expository writing is introduced) on writing skills, such as writing mechanics, expression, and related thinking skills. These skills were measured by standardized tests and by actual writing performance. Subjects, approximately 400 second grade…

Writing across the curriculum (WAC) programs had their genesis in grass-roots efforts to promote attention to writing in all disciplinary areas. At first based on generic faculty-development activities with little regard to systemic and institutional concerns, WAC programs are now more often engaged in assessment and research of writing,…

This study compared ISTEP+ (Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress) writing test scores before the implementation of a writing improvement program with ISTEP+ writing test scores. The study was conducted two years after such a program was implemented. Data from two groups was collected for this comparison. The first group used was the…

This booklet presents a qualitative evaluation of the Simi Star Project, which sought to demonstrate the use of a Writing to Read adaptation that supports a literature-based, whole language, writing process environment within kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. After a description of the questions that the evaluation asked, the booklet…

The writing center at Bluefield State College (West Virginia) is called the SPICE Center, SPICE being an acronym for Self Paced Instruction for Competency in English. In addition to emphasizing skill acquisition and flexibility, it stresses face-to-face evaluation of written work, and places heavy emphasis on writing as process instead of writing…

A study determined whether former participants in the Winthrop Writing Institutes (annual summer institutes based on the National Writing Project model) had improved classroom instruction in writing by using strategies taught in the institutes and whether they had continued to grow professionally. Surveys were returned by 49 of the 89 (1981 to…

A study evaluated the effects of one reading software program on the written language production of kindergarten and first grade students. Subjects were approximately 600 students from six different schools--three using the computerized reading program, Writing to Read, and three comparable in demographics, but not using the program. Stories…

During the 1985-1986 school year, the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) implemented the Writing to Read program, which is designed to improve the writing, language and vocabulary development, and reading of young children. The Planning, Monitoring, and Implementing (PMI) Evaluation Model for Decision Making was used to evaluate two…