Many of the concepts that English teachers traditionally deal with are too "fussy" and inappropriate for the kinds of children who currently fill American schools. These minority students and latchkey kids find the archaic vocabulary and concern over grammatical niceties baffling--to them teachers are like "Doily People," people who are so nice…

The film "Pieces of a Puzzle" (part of the series "Writers Writing" that was coproduced by WNET and Learning Designs and televised by WNET in 1985), helped students become better writers and facilitated the discovery of material and techniques appropriate to academic writing. First, students were introduced to reader response…

A study investigating collaborative computer use for writing at the primary level was conducted at a Catholic school in Toronto through videotaping and observation in a first grade classroom over a period of 3 weeks. It was found that the differentiation of tasks by the computer into two types of acts--inputting signs and arranging text--was…

The result of the Writing across the Curriculum Project at Minneapolis Community College, this handbook provides teachers with effective, efficient, and practical suggestions for crafting good writing assignments in content area classrooms. In general, the book encourages teachers to ask good questions and to experiment with writing. Respectively,…

A study analyzed argumentative essays written to both friendly and hostile audiences by 12 high school seniors, 24 college freshmen, and 16 college juniors and seniors. The high school students were randomly selected from college-bound English classes that had stressed reading and writing about literature but had also included some work in…

A description is provided of the use of a group process approach to the Freshman English research paper at El Paso Community College. After highlighting problems associated with traditional approaches to freshman research papers, an overview of the group process approach is provided, along with warnings for instructors who might view the approach…

The writing patterns of adult native speakers of English was compared to that of students of English as a second language (ESL). Both groups wrote brief narrative accounts of a story they had seen on film. The writings revealed three basic organizational patterns, one pattern covering the six critical elements that made up the short story and two…

Designed for students, faculty, and others interested in the writing program at Umpqua Community College (UCC) in Oregon, this booklet clarifies the specific function and scope of the writing courses offered by UCC's Department of Humanities. Section I states the department's objectives (e.g., to provide a core curriculum meeting the requirements…

Problems caused by a teacher's inherent authority during writing conferences can be surmounted by bringing a counselor's approaches to structuring and conducting an interview with a client. First, the creation of an atmosphere of acceptance and trust is more important to the writing conference than specific teaching techniques. Second,…

With the advent of the process approach to teaching writing, the use of products or models in the composition classroom has declined, replaced by heuristic exploration of the rhetorical situation, with special emphasis on audience analysis. Some researchers have emphasized the difference between internal audiences and audiences external to the…

While vocabulary is the concern of beginning students of English as a second language (ESL) and essays are the focus of advanced students, syntax is the domain of the intermediate course, with an emphasis on sentence combining. One method divides the course into four segments: (1) using, varying, and rearranging connectors; (2) ordering thoughts…

Various approaches have traditionally been used to evaluate college students' writing performance. The College Outcome Measures Program (COMP), designed to assess and improve college programs, offers new ways to collect writing samples that include responses to reasoning and problem solving tasks. Thus, the effectiveness of written communication…

A study contrasted two first grade writing programs to ascertain changes in the students' regard for writing in a manner that could be measured and compared. One writing program encouraged students to write expressively and find their way into print, while the other program used the more traditional or skill-sequenced approach through preparatory…

A study explored the effects of word processing on the revision strategies of 20 advanced college freshmen enrolled in a required writing course. Subjects were divided into two groups of 10, each of which alternately wrote a series of four essays on and off the computer. For each essay students submitted three drafts, which were analyzed for…

A collaborative effort on the part of teachers from and consultants for the University of California, Irvine/California Writing Project, this guide presents ideas for teaching writing as a process at all levels of the curriculum. Each section of the guide presents an essay introducing the section topic, followed by practical ideas for teaching…