Discusses a short questionnaire, which may be useful in diagnosing the attitudes, apprehensions, and hostilities that can keep students from learning how to write. (DD)

Describes an exercise in learning about persuasion using a NASA exercise in group decision-making centered on a theoretical crash landing on the moon. Students experience the power of the authoritative voice, the persuasive power of facts, the bandwagon approach, and group manipulation. (TJ)

Discusses the composing skills that students need to acquire on their way to becoming better writers. (AEA)

Draws on concept learning research to address the problem of grammatical explanations that may be perfectly clear to the teacher or textbook writer but that leave students groping for help. Describes problems that students have in learning grammatical concepts, and provides strategies to overcome those problems. (RS)

Investigated relationships between individual differences in (1) levels of writing skills and (2) proficiencies at simultaneous and successive cognitive processing. Correlated students' writings with the following word and sentence level problems: spelling errors, missing or inappropriate punctuation of sentence parts, missing noun and verb…

Extensive practice in evaluation through each writing stage, from prewriting to final draft, helps students to sharpen their skills as critics of others' writing, guides them as they revise their compositions, and demonstrates to them that evaluating their writing is essentially their job and not their teacher's. (RL)

Describes the findings of a questionnaire survey of college freshmen regarding the diverse and often contradictory "rules" for writing. (DD)

This book is designed to provide guidance on conference teaching for teachers who have not done much one-to-one teaching, for those who have but are looking for new insights, and for tutors in the writing lab. The first chapter offers a rationale for one-to-one teaching and discusses the role of the conference in teaching writing, what conference…

Argues that while the writing laboratory cannot solve all problems inherent in teaching writing, it is a rich resource for both student and instructor. (MM)

The basic structure of a writing laboratory at Purdue University, Indiana, is described in this paper. Physical facilities, record keeping plans, instructional approaches and materials, and evaluation methods are discussed. As a laboratory situation, the course was intended as a supplement to regular composition classes. Five graduate students and…

Classroom teachers and administrators often see the writing lab as a simple extension of the classroom experience, rather than as the tutorial practice that it should be with interactive one-to-one teaching. Students should be acting participants, spending at least 50% of lab time talking, questioning, trying out, practicing, and composing. Tutors…

Discusses the collected research on free modifiers and "minor sentences," or "formal fragments." Asks English teachers for less concentration on initial placement of modifiers, less rigidity concerning fragments, and more practice with punctuating final free modifiers. (RL)

Explains how peer writing tutors not only help their fellow students, but can also learn a great deal themselves about grammar and mechanics, information processing, marking papers, audience awareness, and problem-solving strategies. (ARH)