Describes a version of language experience with adolescents that has students write about personal problems and dilemmas they have faced. (AEA)

Describes research, practice, and resources for giving students writing activities in several rhetorical contexts and to various audiences. (RL)

Illustrates the pitfalls of French grammar and syntax by reproducing a student's composition, which mangles the language. Draws from similarly frustrating experiences and from a "New York Times" article entitled "The Fumble-rules of Grammar" to compile a list of "General Principles for the Improvement of Oral and Written French Expression." (MES)

Case studies of first graders' approaches to learning reading and writing show that individual attack style is persistent regardless of teaching method and is related to personality and possibly physiology. (DD)

Examines the role of constructive feedback in adult foreign language error correction. Gives guidelines applying to written work and discusses indirect and direct correction treatments. While stressing the value of the former as an opportunity for discovery learning, favors a combination of the two as the most effective technique. (MES)

Presents results of a study on how accurately instructors in composition identified various kinds of errors. (RL)

Requiring college mathematics students to write papers as an integral component of a standard mathematics course is promoted. (MP)

Uses examples from the work of several Native American authors, including N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Silko, to discuss five unique elements in American Indian literature: reverence for words, dependence on a sense of place, sense of ritual, affirmation of the need for community, and a significantly different world view. (SB)

Reports the outcome of a plagiarism suit against organic chemistry professor T. W. Graham Solomons by two emeritus professors at New York University. The ruling of not guilty leaves the way open for Solomons' counterclaim that he lost sales of the book because of the suit. (Author/SA)

Discusses the reluctance of composition students to write about personal subjects in course assignments. Characterizes the "bluffer," the "failer," and the "overachiever" in composition courses. Suggests strategies for: (1) creating a nonthreatening environment; (2) grading on progress, content, and mechanics; and (3) minimizing students' fear of…

Reports classroom observations and dialogues with children that show children's understandings and use of punctuation; reports data showing that children in a class in which punctuation was taught in the context of writing learned more about punctuation than children in a class in which it was taught in isolation. (ET)

Reports that sentence combining studies have consistently recorded significant gains in writing improvement at all grade levels and that, while reading comprehension gains have not been as significant, fewer studies have been conducted in that area. (FL)

Tells how using a hand puppet in classroom interactions helped a quiet and inhibited little girl develop skills and spontaneity in written and oral communication. (GT)

A program using secondary English teachers as associates to teach college freshman rhetoric was introduced at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Associates had at least a master's degree and served during their sabbatical year, teaching three sections per semester while taking coursework. (DF)

Discusses the need for systematic exploration of claims about the advantages of language experience dictations; recommends that teachers guide the rereading and editing of early dictations to facilitate comprehending behaviors, and that they help children explore writing conventions as their dictations indicate a readiness to learn them. (ET)