In this study, Grade 9 students wrote experiment manuals for their peers describing a simple physics investigation to explore whether air takes space. Peers executed these manuals and their processes were videotaped. In several experimental conditions, these videotapes were played back for authors. Then they had to rewrite the experiment manual.…

Writing-to-learn techniques can enhance learning, yet a need remains for more empirical research on the quality of learning that results from engaging in particular writing tasks with description of the instructional support for writing situated in context. This report builds on past research linking inquiry, social negotiation, and writing…

Although teachers focus on style, fluency, tone, and correct grammar in writing, they rarely emphasize the importance of content. Both the National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges and the NAEP seem to favor emotional and personal writing, at least at the high school level. Judging from their guidelines, both the SAT and the…

Senior undergraduates in the honors or graduation year with an intention to further their career in science would soon face the real world of scientific research as a junior scientist. It is important to acquaint these students with and adequately prepare them for the key aspects of a scientist's professional life. These include technical…

Online fanfiction communities provide adolescent English-language learners (ELLs) with a forum for engaging in an array of sophisticated literacy practices. This article draws on constructs from literacy studies and second-language acquisition as conceptual bases for exploring the writing, reviewing, and social practices in an online fanfiction…

A cohort of secondary English preservice teachers was engaged in a series of articles designed to bring about a shift in their initial autonomous views of literacy toward a more sociocultural "Discourses and literacies" perspective. Students wrote an essay in which they articulated their initial assumptions about what literacy was and what…

This article reports on a small-scale study of feedback on music students' written work, in which staff and students were asked to evaluate existing practice and suggest potential modifications. The value of feedback as a communicative learning tool is illustrated through students' participation in a range of research tasks, including rating the…

The authors explored the perceived effects of an environmental expressive writing exercise by using a modified phenomenological method. The authors asked preservice teachers enrolled in a required public university science and society education course to compose multigenre compositions describing personal environmental impacts, followed by written…

This study has investigated the comparability of computer-based testing writing prompts in the Test of English as a Foreign LanguageTM (TOEFL) for examinees of different native language backgrounds. A total of 81 writing prompts introduced from July 1998 through August 2000 were examined using a 3-step logistic regression procedure for ordinal…

Although L2 teachers tend to operate under the assumption that feedback on student compositions has a profound and positive effect on student revisions, few investigations have examined the results of teacher feedback. The present study, therefore, replicated a 1997 study by Ferris on the type and effect of feedback on advanced…

A pilot study provided insight into difficulties experienced by 143 Yr. 2 B.Ed. students in Scotland, writing in a science education context. In studying writing, an 'academic literacies' approach was adopted, focusing on social aspects in addition to identifying flaws. In over 20% of assignments, tutors' assessments identified a need to structure…

This article reports on a study using Piagetian clinical methodology to examine the early writing development of 56, urban, Spanish-speaking preschoolers in a metropolitan area of the United States. In addition, the article draws upon findings by the Expert Study (Flippo, 1998) to underscore the types of instructional environments that have proven…

This study investigates the acquisition of an unfamiliar discursive practice by an adult Vietnamese learner of English. The practice is revision talk in weekly English as a Second Language (ESL) writing conferences between the student and his ESL writing instructor. This research adopts the interactional competence framework for understanding the…

Over the past two decades, the presence and use of technology in the workplace and in schools has increased dramatically. At the same time, the importance of test-based educational accountability has also increased. Currently, formal testing programs are used in 49 states. Some observers have raised concerns that the testing programs that make…

This article describes one classroom's experience integrating a three-part lesson that focused on tolerance. In the lesson, students examined works by American folk-art painter Edward Hicks, researched quotes about tolerance in society, and applied calligraphy skills to an original composition.