This paper provides a brief overview of three direct measures of writing assessment--holistic, analytic, and primary trait scoring--and several variations and combinations of the three. It then relates these measures to eight types of educational decisions: (1) diagnosis of individual learner strengths and weaknesses, (2) student placement, (3)…

This report is one of a series of papers presented to a continuing in-house seminar on learning sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The paper reports on several schools where writing and individual expression are valued, identifies one approach to the teaching of writing, and addresses two central questions underlying the crisis of writing in the…

One of 33 self-paced instructional modules for training industry services leaders to provide guidance in the performance of manpower services by public agencies to new and expanding private industry, this module contains three sequential learning activities on developing an industry services brochure. (Three related modules, also dealing with…

In a study of differences and similarities between children's oral and written stories, 23 third grade pupils wrote stories about a given topic and then, two weeks later, told stories about the same topic. Analysis of the stories revealed five types of narrative structures, of which the most commonly used was a "situation-problem-solution"…

A review of the various grammatical traditions from traditional grammar through structural linguistics to transformational grammar points out that traditional and transformational grammar are neither mutually exclusive nor entirely contradictory. Implications drawn from modern inquiry include the necessity for reading and writing teachers to guide…

This volume contains information on a pilot writing program, involving approximately 900 kindergarten through fifth grade students, designed to test the impact of emphasizing written composition during the language arts instructional period only, as compared to emphasizing composition skills during both language arts and social studies/science…

Current literature indicates a growing interest in the development of individualized, self-paced, learning systems within community college courses in order to accommodate the differing learning abilities of non-traditional students. To assess student preferences for such instruction as opposed to traditional, lecture/discussion teaching, an…

Noting that the study of the future has been neglected within the language arts framework, this paper proposes a curriculum unit that uses such study as a vehicle to develop composition skills. The paper provides the following information: the general objectives of the unit; evaluation methods; general humanistic themes to be studied; materials;…

The use of a computerized system is described in which students rate each other's term papers via the computer program PEERRATE, which creates a matrix of intervals between ratings received and calculates final ratings incorporating a mean and standard deviation selected by the instructor for the class. As described, the program includes: (1)…

Many students, especially nontraditional ones, are not ready for conventional instruction in composition because their problems with the medium overwhelm the content of their writing. There are two different needs for composition students: composing (content) and editing (correctness), which need to be taught in a two-step process. Composing can…

A three-week institute at Rutgers University during the summer of 1977 attracted 49 college-level teachers representing a wide range of academic subjects. Organizers of the institute sought to involve these people in an intensive study of the numerous inherent possibilities for learning that writing activities offer to any subject area. The…

Although English teachers must spend 40 to 60% of their teaching time in developing the listening, composition, reading, and speech skills of their students, most college English programs allow only 8% of the professional course time for teacher preparation in these skill areas. Even in those colleges that offer a language arts major, the majority…

A study of the writing abilities of high school and college students in Florida uncovered specific problem areas in teaching and curriculum design. Recommendations for alleviating writing deficiencies of high school students before they get to the university include a writing training program for prospective and inservice high school teachers,…

The development of alternative instructional activities for use in the basic writing classroom and a description and analysis of four levels of basic writing are the results of a study of basic writing teaching techniques. The linguistic concepts of immediate and transferred utterances and nominal-verbal pairing, and the work of L. Vygotsky on…

A total of 69 college freshmen, all on academic probation, were involved in an examination of the effects of expressive writing practice upon students' reading, self-esteem, attitudes toward instruction, and academic achievement. An experimental group consisting of 35 students followed a writing/reading curriculum, while a control group of 34…