This study, set in the teacher education program of a large, Midwestern public university, examines metaphors used by elementary pre-service teachers in writing about diversity and teaching in diverse settings with diverse populations. Using metaphor analysis methodology grounded in Lakoff and Johnson's work on conceptual metaphor and working…

Two processes, serial and hierarchical, are generally opposed to account for grammatical encoding in language production. In a developmental perspective, the question addressed here is whether the subject-verb agreement during writing is computed serially, once the words are linearly ordered in the sentence, or hierarchically, as soon as the…

Introduction: While "teaching self-efficacy" has been supported as an important construct related to teacher competence (eg. Goddard, Hoy & Hoy, 2000), little is known about how in-service teachers think about themselves as writers, or writing self-efficacy, particularly as it relates to writing performance. The present study is a preliminary…

This article used a writing sample that contained 27 sentence-level errors of the type found by corporate America to be annoying and bothersome. Five categories of errors were included in the sample: grammar, punctuation, spelling, writing style, and business communication concepts. Students in a written business communication course were asked…

Edited by three authorities in the field, this "Handbook" presents contributions from experts across the world who report the cutting-edge of international research. It is ground-breaking in its holistic, evidence-informed account that aims to synthesize key messages for policy and practice in English, language and literacy teaching. A…

"FACTC Focus" is a publication of Faculty Association of Community and Technical Colleges (FACTC) with the purpose of presenting diverse views on faculty issues. Included in this issue are: (1) Teaching Underwater (Jill Stukenberg); (2) The Ready Made Audience (Jason Nix); (3) Success or Insanity (J. Salas); (4) U Tube and Flickr…

The "Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition" ("BCIRC") program, an adaptation of the "Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition" ("CIRC") program, was designed to help Spanish-speaking students succeed in reading Spanish and then making a successful transition to English reading. In…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Helping New Teachers Succeed: Louisiana…

As the lead Advanced Placement (AP) English teacher at Suncoast High School, a magnet school, the author started a pilot program teaching the lowest quartile group of African American students the AP English Literature and Composition course their senior year. Their educational background was limited, and several were not able to write a complete…

This research review examines recent developments in computer-mediated communication (CMC) research for educational applications. The review draws on 170 recent research articles selected from 78 journals representing a wide range of disciplines. The review focuses on peer-reviewed empirical studies, but is open to a variety of methodologies. The…

What syntactic patterns emerge in students' use of articles and modals? What are the reasons for these patterns? What implications do the findings of the study have for English language instruction in Botswana? Exactly 1556 essays comprising class assignments, written seminar presentations, test papers and examination scripts from 514 randomly…

English language learners are students with a primary language other than English who have a limited range of speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills in English. English language learners also include students identified and determined by their school as having limited English proficiency and a language other than English spoken in the…

A writing seminar on the writing process required senior students at Rollins College (Florida) to bring to class with them piles of their previous compositions and drafts. Their first assignment was to research the composing process of a well-known writer and then write a paper about it. After that, they turned to their own work. The objective was…

A study examined an eleventh grade literature teacher's written responses to her students' writing. Copies of the students' graded papers were collected, and the instructor and eight students were interviewed. These sources became central to building a framework detailing five key ways that this teacher oriented herself to student writing: (1)…

In 19th century America, talk of manners and morals as integral components of American character filled a significant space in public discourse. Lessons on how to compose oneself properly and models of appropriate behavior abounded in the form of essays, stories, poetry, editorials, and travel literature. This conversation on character influenced…