Reflection is a necessary component of learning. Through reflective assignments and tasks, students are given opportunities to evaluate their learning and analyze strategies they use while acquiring and applying course material. Reflections also help students assess and think deeply about the information presented in class and thus better retain…

Discover an innovative, evidence-based method for preparing students for the demands of college writing called Supporting Strategic Writers (SSW). The goal of SSW is to help students become independent learners who understand the value of strategies and can apply them flexibly in future courses and the workplace. The text provides genre-based…

Active learning and online education have become important aspects of knowledge delivery. Nevertheless, little research exists on how active learning techniques can be implemented in an online environment. Deliberate equivalence of methods and materials for onsite and online delivery mechanisms is often seen as a strong point in favor of a…

This study qualitatively analyzes the challenges presented by international undergraduate students in a freshman composition course at a large Midwestern university in the US. 15 students were divided into five groups, of three members each, with varying proficiency levels in writing. They were asked to submit reflections as journal/blog posts, on…

Despite the emphasis on increasing the frequency with which students engage in analytic writing, we know very little about the "writing diet" of adolescents. Student notebooks, used as a daily record of in-class work, provide one source of evidence about the diversity of writing expectations that students face. Through careful…

This case study is part of a larger investigation of literacy practices at New Beginnings shelter, a long-term transitional homeless shelter for addicted mothers and their children. We asked, "What is the nature of writing in a homeless shelter committed to the rehabilitation and recovery of mothers from addiction?" At New Beginnings,…

This study presents how college freshmen students reflect on their writing skills using a triangular writing process. A triangular writing process consists of Clog as a freewriting format, personal journal log as an informal writing format, and writing assignments as a formal writing format. Participants were 47 undergraduate students who took…

The Common Core State Standards emphasize students writing analytically in response to texts. Questions remain about the nature of instruction that develops students' text-based writing skills. In the present study, we examined the role that writing task quality plays in students' mastery of analytic text-based writing. Text-based writing tasks…

This pilot study aims at integrating a socio-pragmatic concept, Cooperative Principles, into an experimental writing project on the genres of comparison and contrast. It reports on a six-week study of five undergraduates voluntarily recruited in a university located in central Taiwan. In surveying their writing momentum before and after the…

Based on a 2-year ethnographic study in an urban secondary school in Toronto, the article presents how a teacher and a researcher teach Grade 11 students through a design-based approach to teaching and learning in English class. Built on research and pedagogy on design, the authors designed a programme of study as an alternative to more…

This action research combined qualitative and quantitative techniques to investigate two different types of writing assignments in an introductory undergraduate statistics course. The assignments were written in response to the same set of prompts but in two different ways: homework journal assignments or initial posts to a computer discussion…

Demonstrates how grading students journal can be made easier by making the journals goal-oriented, such as using them as the basis for exams. Suggests that journal assignments can involve more complex learning tasks such as analyzing, interpreting, and applying course materials in specific ways. (PA)

Writing classes ought to be among the most creative environments imaginable, but sadly, some writing teachers seem to think that their own writing ability, in proximity, is enough to get students started. A good writing teacher must be a constant student of creativity, always searching for new ways to teach, new inspirations, new forms of…

Describes a three-part assignment in which each student writes a complaint letter and an adjustment letter responding to another student's complaint letter. Discusses how the third part of the assignment--journal entries--allows students to formulate their own criteria for excellent letters based upon their reactions to the letters they receive.…

Describes a method of including students into a community of readers through which they are encouraged to respond individually to literary texts. Shows how writing prompts can be used in the classroom to foster reader response and the integrity of each reader's interpretation of a text. (HB)