This study focuses on an examination of the learning-to-learn strategies of seventh-grade students as they highlight, take notes, plan, organize, and write expository texts. Participants consist of 125 students, 41 with disabilities and 84 without disabilities. The results reveal that the students with disabilities have more difficulties in using…

The authors apply the statement-pie approach (in which the reader is trained to look for the two major categories of concepts--the statement or major topic of the passage, and the information which supports the statement) to the teaching of reading and writing skills to elementary level mildly handicapped students. (SB)

This article describes the Early Literacy Program, an integrated literacy curriculum for special education students designed collaboratively among university and school-based researchers to promote classroom discourse for negotiating and constructing meanings in reading and writing. The program emphasizes holistic and contextualized activities,…

Relatively little is known about the potential of web-based programs to support and scaffold the writing performance of students with disabilities. In this study, an experimental and control group of students planned and organized their ideas in order to write expository papers about self-selected topics. The experimental group used a web-based…

Writing samples from 21 fourth and fifth grade learning-disabled students illustrate three typical problems. The Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing program incorporates strategies for performing the writing process and for enhancing student awareness of the roles of audience and text structure in planning, organizing, writing, editing, and…

The interview analysis of six preservice teacher education students indicated that although prospective teachers received information about writing instruction through coursework, they had little idea of how to implement this information. (Author/DB)

This paper describes the development of a Web-based literacy learning software application, Technology Enhanced Learning Environment on the Web (TELE-Web). TELE-Web was developed based on the curriculum of the Early Literacy Project (ELP), an existing literacy program for elementary school students. In describing the development of TELE-Web, the…

This article examines and illustrates four assumptions of the sociocultural perspective for writing instruction of students with learning disabilities: writing is a holistic cognitive activity; cognitive processes are learned in dialogic interactions with others; cognitive development occurs in students' zones of proximal development; and…

Examines the special education teacher's role as a more knowledgeable member of the classroom who uses dialogue to scaffold performance, nurtures the dialogical relationship that underlies the discourse in classrooms, uses procedural facilitation to make complex processes accessible to students, and transfers increasing levels of control and…

The expository writing difficulties of exceptional students are examined in relationship to the writing process, expository text structures, and students' metacognitive knowledge. Approaches to the teaching of expository writing are discussed, and a dialogic approach, involving teacher modeling and a series of think sheets, is described.…

Describes the Cognitive Strategy Instruction in Writing (CSIW) program by discussing: (1) knowledge bases that are useful for expository writing and reading; (2) features of instruction inherent in CSIW that help build knowledge for successful writing and reading; and (3) the effect of CSIW on students' expository writing and reading. (MG)

The Early Literacy Project focused on involving students in contextualized literary activities, developing learning strategies, constructing classroom dialogs about literacy, supporting learners in their zones of proximal development, and creating literacy communities. Research with 88 primary-grade students with mild disabilities indicated clear…

This article proposes that teachers of students with learning disabilities combine instruction in writing strategies with training in strategy attribution, whereby students learn to attribute their success or failure to use or nonuse of a particular writing strategy. Specific strategies are offered for writing subprocesses and steps in linking…

It is viable to argue that literacy can be construed as a set of culturally-based discursive practices rather than as merely a set of cognitive skills. This idea has special relevance for students with learning disabilities, who often struggle with more traditional, individually-based curricular approaches. This study explored the ways in which an…

This article reports on implementation of the Early Literacy Project with primary level students with mild disabilities. Special attention is given to one preconventional writer whose performance was advanced by involving him in literacy activities in advance of competence, using meaningful text representations to scaffold performance, and…