This article presents a review of the "Test of Written Language-Fourth Edition" (TOWL-4), a newly updated individual or group-based measure of written language for students aged 9 years, 0 months through 17 years, 11 months. The stated purposes of the measure are to identify students in need of support or intervention in the area of…

This book captures the diversity and richness of writing as it relates to different forms of abilities, skills, competencies, and expertise. Psychologists, educators, researchers, and practitioners in neighboring areas are interested in exploring how writing develops and in what manner this development can be fostered, but they lack a handy,…

Over 2000 samples of the writing of eleven to eighteen year olds were analyzed as part of an attempt to formulate and validate a system for categorizing student writing. The system that resulted has two dimensions: the function served by the piece of writing and the audience to which it is addressed. Significant associations were found between the…

This paper explores the process of writing from several perspectives, as a first step toward a more comprehensive theory. The first perspective sees writing as a communicative act. The observation that to write is to communicate, though commonplace, has major and sometimes surprising implications for a theory of writing. It forces a focus on the…

Children's early writing is analyzed in this paper according to different perspectives such as function, grapho-phonemics, syntax, and semantics. Emphasis is given to the semantic perspective of decoding the text and to the study of coherence in text as it is viewed by the reader. Proposition analysis is used to map the coherence of samples of…

Provides a brief historical perspective on the teaching of high school composition and reviews seven ERIC documents which deal with this subject. (RB)

Examines the relationship between stages of orthographic development and writing fluency. Finds that the graphemic output lexicon of beginning readers and writers is not sufficiently detailed to allow a fluent output. (PRA)

A preliminary descriptive framework of the rhetorical structure of the argumentative essay is proposed. Research results are used to show that a "categories analysis" can clarify the structure of written texts and provide pedagogically useful materials. (15 references) (Author/LB)

Discusses ways of using second language acquisition (SLA) research in teaching, and argues that the correct use of SLA research should meet a set of overlapping requirements. The requirements are then applied to three sample areas of research: the question of age-effects in second language learning, the acquisition of phonology, and the…

This is the fourth and final report in a series dealing with the impact of the modes of discourse (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) on written syntactic complexity at the elementary school level. The first three reports dealt in turn with the three grade levels involved in the study (third, fourth, and fifth grades). This…

To write well is not a singular ability; it utilizes critical thinking, creativity, and a feeling for language. An examination of a number of pieces of writing by elementary school pupils shows that some are highly imaginative while others are informative reports, simple statements of events, colorful descriptions, or various forms of poetry.…

Reviews what recent research into speaking-writing relationships has to say about a particular problem of unskilled writers--those who tend to write as if they were talking. Examines the differences and interdependence of oral dialogue and written monologue. (RL)

Tagmemic invention offers a student several ways of decreasing the unfamiliarity of the early stages of writing. The process of inquiry and the heuristic devices provide the orientation and tools for dealing with new writing tasks with increased confidence and likelihood of success. In the theory of tagmemic rhetoric, language behavior and…

This study examines the degree of consistency between students' oral and written expression, with regard to the ideas and opinions communicated. Fifty-five freshman composition students were asked to elaborate on a subject of choice in a 500-word essay and in a private office interview with the teacher. Data revealed that consistency of expression…

Mary S. Erbaugh has compiled this volume to examine the so-called "ideographic myth" from a variety of perspectives. Through this multidisciplinary collection of articles, we learn how the myth has come about, what sort of theory and empirical evidence have been generated to refute it, and how this myth has stubbornly persisted to hamper progress…