In order to promote professionalism and transform novice teaching assistants into capable instructors, the University of New Mexico has established a required course in "Teaching Composition." The course attempts to define institutional and departmental goals, and explore such issues in class management as organization, discipline,…

The study examined 41 students (24 male, 17 female) in a beginning writing course for adults. Data were collected by (1) taping four workshop sessions in which all students participated in small groups, (2) interviewing all the students, and (3) observing four students writing in the classroom. The adult writers composed in two models: the…

Within the scope of the English program in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights (Ohio) junior high schools, three areas of concentration have been defined: literature, language, and composition. Correlation of these three areas is the focal point of this English course guide supplement for grades seven, eight, and nine. In the literature…

The obvious necessity for a freshman English course which is geared to the individual student's needs, prior preparation, and writing behavior prompted the formation of an experimental course at the University of Texas. Three major components--diagnostic tests, contracts, and computer-assisted instruction--provide the framework for a…

Historical incidents, photographs of sheet music, cartoons, and advertisements are employed to study language in this textbook. The text, suggestions, and quoted material in the book are to be used not only for the study of language but also as sources for writing. It is recommended that journal entries, more fresh and spontaneous than formal…

Observations of American instructors and students in England, as well as English publications, reveal that English primary teachers treat writing as a way for children to share their personal experiences, and they correspondingly emphasize freedom of expression, fluency, and the retention and development of imaginative responses. Teachers enrich…

This article proposes to teach writing from the hypothesis that true writing and good prose are only end products rather than the primary objectives. The author suggests that producing an effect in a reader and revealing the self in words are prior achievements in the process of learning to write well. Criteria for judging writing are based…

This syllabus or teacher's guide to the life and works of Dr. W.E.B. Dubois has the following organization. An introductory section provides eulogies and tributes from important black and white leaders focusing on his stature as an educator, editor, sociologist, historian, statesman, social prophet, and race leader. The main body of the syllabus…

This study was designed to determine whether a student's level of critical thinking would be increased by exposure to programmed materials which emphasized the use of qualifying words in avoiding over-generalizations. Seventy 8th graders were randomly divided into two groups--one experimental, the other control--which were judged to be equivalent…

This overview of the first year of the La Mancha Project consists of papers on various aspects of the 5-year project to improve the composition instruction in Vermont schools, incorporating workshop and individual student conference techniques, and integrating writing with other academic studies. The papers include discussions of (1) ninth grade…

This reader for high intermediate or advanced students of English as a second language may be used on the secondary level for students from 14 to 18 years of age who have had about five years of instruction in daily classes, or on the adult level for students who have had two years of work. With a three-way emphasis on reading, speaking, and…

If language arts programs are not to be a hodge-podge, a concerted effort must be made to find common concepts about language which might be the framework for the discipline called "English." Such factors as the contributions of various disciplines to the language arts, the influence of modern learning theory on curriculum design, and…

Developmental writing activities (186), based on the theory that the process of writing can be arranged in a hierarchical chain of learning experiences, are divided among six chapters: "The Ebb and Flow of Writing,""Composition Writing as an Artistic Expression,""Spelling Problems and the Flow of Expression,""Traditional and Experimental Verse…

The practicing writer encounters four determinants of his use of prose. First, the language itself determines the expression: English, with its wealth of words and styles and with few traditional restrictions, provides problems of choice and temptations to overwrite. Second, the application of verse forms to the novel and a demand for consistently…

The low rate of agreement among readers of College Entrance Examination essays suggested the need to examine the qualities in student writing which caused wide variance in grading. To study this question, 300 homework papers by freshmen at three universities were graded by 60 distinguished readers in six fields. The following factors, by rank,…