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)

Reviews the research done on the evaluation of student compositions. (JL)

Attitudinal data from questionnaires and student written products were used to investigate how students' attitudes relate to their performance on typical test writing tasks. (HOD)

Examines the relative effects on holistic scores given to college students' expository essays of three types of variables--essay, reader, and environment. (HOD)

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…

Studies secondary school classrooms in Great Britain and the United States, revealing that, when teachers apply similar theories to everyday practice, important pedagogical contrasts illustrate the ways in which instruction is organized and in what students produce. Finds that, in classrooms with the most highly involved interactions, students…

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…

To move composition research forward into the 21st century, research conducted at the National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy will benefit by continuing to be inclusive--of a diverse population of learners, taught by a diverse population of teachers, using approaches that allow for a diversity of ways of learning. The initial theory…

L. S. Vygotsky's and M. Bakhtin's theories of social interaction are so general that they are not always useful guides for classroom practice. A study of secondary school classrooms in Great Britain and the United States reveals that when teachers apply similar theories to everyday practice, important pedagogical constraints remain--both in terms…

A study was undertaken to discover clues to the learning processes of college students by exploring a method for locating and analyzing student initiated concerns about writing in student/teacher writing conferences. Four tapes of teacher conferences with two students from the first and last of a semester were analyzed in depth. It was noted that…

Describes a study of a writing exchange between a classroom of teenagers (mostly African American, mostly male) in the United States and another classroom of students in England. Notes that even reluctant writers produced responses in a variety of styles. (SR)

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)

Included in this paper is an outline for the book "Multiculturalism in the Mainstream: Teacher Researchers Build Multiethnic Literacy Communities in Urban Multicultural English and Social Studies Classrooms." The paper presents full descriptions of the chapters; a draft of the first chapter; a draft of a completed teachers' chapter; and a sample…

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…