This study described the features of writing instruction in widely used kindergarten English Language Arts programs and examined their alignment with evidence-based, best-practice guidelines. Three popular curricula were selected for analyses: Reading Wonders, Journeys, and Reading Street. Our coding of teacher manuals focused on instructional…

While a plethora of research on second language (L2) writing instruction has focused on instructional approaches, teacher feedback and assessment practice, and student learning experiences, little research has examined issues regarding L2 writing curriculum. In particular, L2 writing curriculum discourse, as one important window to probe into the…

In this article, researchers in the field of early writing identify underlying beliefs and values about writing and learning to write for the beginning years of formal schooling in four jurisdictions: the American state of Connecticut, New Zealand, the Canadian province of Ontario, and Sweden, as reflected in the respective curricula and standards…

This article offers a fuller account than we currently have of the complex, uneasy relationship between behaviorism and writing studies in order both to complicate our disciplinary historiography and to encourage writing scholars, teachers, and program administrators to articulate productive and unproductive understandings of writing behaviors.

In this article, we discuss what it means to learn troublesome "threshold concepts" about writing that cannot be adequately grappled with in a single course or assignment. Here, two faculty members and a graduate of a writing major reflect on elements of the writing curriculum, the writing center practicum, and the learning dispositions…

Historically, writes the author, humans have experienced an impulse to write; have found the materials to write; have endured the labor of composition; have understood that writing offers new possibility and a unique agency, in spite of cultures that devalued writing, that at times prohibited writing by those who may have been female or of color,…

This article reports on a study designed to explore whether and in what ways individual students' technological literacies might impact collaborative teams. For the collaborative team discussed in this article, technological literacy--specifically, limited repertoires for solving technical problems, clashes between document management strategies,…

Analyzes research on the behavior of writers and applies it to the development of writing curriculum. Includes an outline of an example of goals and objectives for teaching writing based on such an analysis. (MD)

Argues that technical writing teachers must understand desktop publishing. Discusses the strengths that technical writing teachers bring to desktop publishing, and the impact desktop publishing will have on technical writing courses and programs. (ARH)

Notes that the reading and writing of poetry in the composition classroom asks students to participate in metacognition. Examines how writing teachers may use poetry activities to foster metalinguistic awareness as well as to meet many of the demands of the composition classroom. Contends that poetry is a missing link in an incomplete chain of…

Discusses the process of writing as a way of learning and "Writing across the Curriculum Programs." Outlines the program developed at Williamson High School in Alabama that successfully trained the English department to serve as consultants to the school in developing such a program. Includes two figures and references. (MD)

Argues for an integrated, developmental curriculum in which teachers teach non-narrative forms as part of children's desire to make meaning. Outlines elements of an integrated K-12 curriculum and discusses non-narrative writing and reading in relation to narrative in the context of the whole curriculum. (MM)

Discusses insights the author has gained from various experiences of writing. Brings these insights all together in a way that may point writing curriculum in a new and totally unexpected direction. Contends that the goal of writing curriculum is to have children writing competently, correctly, and effectively. Explains how to make writing matter…

Argues that children want to write and enjoy writing and that teachers need to provide them with suitable opportunities for doing so. Discusses different kinds of writing that allow children's voices to come through. (FL)

Describes development of a process-oriented writing curriculum that provides continuity through the use of portfolios passed on to the students' next teacher and a classroom atmosphere that celebrates writing as a natural part of students' lives. (HTH)