Reprints a 1986 article from this journal which discusses the mission and goals of the Center for the Study of Writing. Updates the article with an Afterword commenting on the earlier piece. (SR)

Surveys successful teachers and their writing students on preferred teaching emphases and response practices. Notes that successful teachers deemphasize response after a piece of writing is complete and do not use writing for testing students, but comment during process so students will learn to think for themselves. Reports contrasting student…

The individual writing conference is one of the key settings in which adults are taught to write. Success in the conference can be connected both to its structure (who can talk when and how much, and what types of talk are sequenced in what ways) and to the content within that structure (what topics are discussed, the amount of collaboration…

A "naturalistic" study of eight college students enrolled in a freshman writing class was conducted to determine what variables are critical to the learning process. After observing and tape recording four individual conferences with each of the students, the recorded transcripts were analyzed to determine the one or two main concerns…

Recent research creates a better understanding of how writing is best learned, taught, and used for learning in school and life. Research done by Anne Haas Dyson and Carol Stack has indicated that many low-income African American children may bring resources to school that are often overlooked. Matthew Downey moves from Dyson's findings about how…

To gain insights into what makes student/teacher conversations about writing more and less successful, a sample of freshman composition teachers was asked to tape record all of their writing conferences. In addition, student writing samples were collected. In all, the tape recordings of 48 writing conferences were transcribed and prepared for…

Presents an approach to analyzing classroom talk that sheds light on the intellectual work of the classroom. Analyzes the teaching-learning interaction in a ninth-grade English classroom where a writing lesson was being undertaken. (HB)

This paper reviews research about writing that may inform teachers' observations of their students and their decisions about how best to support students' efforts. First, since ways of using written language vary with different social situations, the paper reviews research on how literacy functions in varied communities, including both the…

Suggests general changes in the standard reading and writing curricula and examines the language of writing instruction, in college level individual writing conferences, to take a closer look at issues involved in implementing the curricula for higher and lower achieving students. (FL)

Summarizes research being conducted by project directors under the auspices of the National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy. Considers assessment of writing issues, the professionalization of teaching, and the teaching of nonnative speakers. (HB)

In continuing and building upon past efforts, the National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy, in collaboration with researchers and practitioners around the world, is forging new theoretical and pedagogical directions in writing and literacy. The Center's research projects and activities aim to respond boldly and straightforwardly to…

Because student-teacher conferences appear to be more effective than other methods of writing evaluation, a study was conducted to observe how students' writing changed over a semester and whether those changes were related to the conversations in student-teacher conferences. Two college freshman composition students--one strong and one weak…

This report is the final report of a comparative study of the teaching and learning of writing in the United Kingdom and the United States, consisting of observational studies of 4 pairs of classrooms which exchanged writing between the 2 countries over a 2-year period. Following an overview in chapter 1, chapter 2 describes the study's methods.…

A two-part study intended to investigate what constitutes successful teacher response to student writing is described in this report. The described study consisted of a survey of response practices of 560 elementary and secondary school teachers who were among the most successful in their communities as judged by directors of the sites of the…

This paper presents an approach to analyzing classroom talk that sheds light on the intellectual work of the classroom. The analysis system extends the theoretical construct of preference organization from conversational analysis to the study of a whole-class, teaching-learning interaction in a ninth-grade English classroom, during which an expert…