Through the process of writing and rewriting a committed voice can be recovered in which individuals are allowed to find out what they think, say what they think, and then stop. (HOD)

Urges that beginning writers be shown that by maintaining a consistent and appropriate rhetorical stance they not only signal their own role but also indicate the proper role for the audience to play. (MM)

Follows the writing skill development of 154 Finnish-speaking children. Focuses on predictive associations between preschool writing readiness skills and later mechanics of writing, as well as between word recognition skill, mechanics of writing, and composition coherence. Indicates that both mechanics of writing and composition coherence could be…

Contends that the Given-New research done by linguists on texts can be used effectively in process approaches to teaching composition. Finds that Given-New principles of text analysis are useful in teaching individual students, but that there is more to creating coherence than simply overlapping subjects and objects. (MS)

Three areas of the classical rhetoric of Aristotle, adapted for the modern discourse of inquiry and demonstration, provide a systematic framework for students to understand thought, investigation, and writing in other disciplines: aitia, kairos, and the enthymeme and the example. Aitia, or cause, has four aspects--the material cause, the formal…

Examines the cognitive processes associated with speech and writing. (HOD)

To determine if using visual patterns can help technically oriented people create coherent papers, 97 students enrolled in a beginning composition class were given five hours of instruction in the use of the "hub and spokes" (central idea supported by examples), "S-curve" (pro-con), and pyramid (inductive or deductive) formats. Holistic…

A study examined the effect of topic-specific background knowledge on the general quality and local coherence of student writing. Ninety-seven tenth grade students were assigned two writing tasks on specific topics at two points during a semester. J. Langer's measure of topic-specific knowledge was administered prior to each writing task. Each…

Knowing the connections between ideas and the interrelationships among groups of ideas is a skill that can be useful throughout the writing process. Writers who are aware of the meaning relationships existing between sentences and ideas can discover the logical possibilities inherent in their topic at the prewriting stage, determine patterns for…

To examine the relationship between writers' knowledge of expository frames--conventions accepted by both writers and readers in association with a particular type of discourse--and writing skill, 60 persuasive essays were analyzed for content organization. The essays, evaluated as either above average or average on a high school writing…

An experiment was designed to test an instrument that could assist writers and editors in selecting strategies for improving the comprehensibility of written instructions. In addition, the study examined how successful professional writers are in improving passages selected for difficulty. The subjects, 150 experienced writers, were given an…

Examines the relationship between cohesion and coherence in children's writing. Finds evidence of a relationship between cohesion and coherence, and reports that this relationship (1) varies according to text content; (2) does not vary according to quality of writing; and (3) does not vary according to the students' grade level. (KEH)

Arguing that discourse coherence can provide a window on the writing processes that produce it, this paper describes developmental differences observed in children's writing and proposes a procedural model to account for those differences. The first section of the paper points out that a developmental model of the writing process should specify…

By investigating the similarities and differences between speech and writing, teachers can help students mature as writers. The difference between speech and writing in conveying meaning is explained by the degree of context dependence of the utterance or passage. Speech is highly context-dependent because a speaker depends on a listener to assist…

To understand and describe a developmental learning progression of choices students make in forming chains of relationships in their narrative texts, a study used the Cohesive Harmony Index to measure cohesion in children's written narratives. Data were obtained from 36 grade school children at intervals of four months over the students' first…