Six judges evaluated 20 randomly selected essays from a remedial writing program at the University of Houston to study racial differences in writing and the reasons for such differences. The judges, who were not informed of the race of the writers, examined the essays for the following writing features: free associations, redundancy (ineffective…

Because public relations (PR) writing is different from the writing required in journalism, broadcasting, and advertising, PR practitioners require a background in editing, graphics, planning, campaigning, special events, public opinion, and evaluation beyond that required of a newswriter. Responses to a survey of 38 PR educators across the nation…

This overview of the Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP) discusses the initiation and development of BAWP, the proliferation of programs based on the Bay Area model, and the establishment of the National Writing Project (NWP). The basis for BAWP is described as the recognition that there are outstanding teachers of writing in the schools and that…

AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, IN THE SUMMER OF 1966, OVER 50 EDUCATORS FROM THE UNITED STATES, ENGLAND, AND CANADA PARTICIPATED IN THE FIRST ANGLO-AMERICAN SEMINAR ON THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH. THIS REPORT, WRITTEN FOR THE ENGLISH TEACHING PROFESSION, IS NOT A SURVEY OR SUMMARY OF THE CONFERENCE, BUT RATHER IS AN ELABORATION OF THE CONSENSUS OF THE SEMINAR.…

THIS COURSE DESCRIPTION RECOUNTS A FOURTH-GRADE TEACHERS EXPERIENCE OF MOTIVATING AND ASSISTING INNER-CITY SLUM CHILDREN TO DEVELOP COMPOSITION SKILLS AND INCLUDES THE THREE UNITS SHE TAUGHT--(1) "LEARNING TO BE SPECIFIC" AND "LEARNING TO DESCRIBE SENSE IMPRESSIONS," (2) "LEARNING TO DESCRIBE PEOPLE," AND (3)…

ALTHOUGH CHILDREN'S NEEDS FOR WRITTEN EXPRESSION PROBABLY PARALLEL THOSE OF ADULTS, THE REASON BEHIND CHILDREN'S CHOICE OF WRITING OVER SPEAKING IN GIVEN INSTANCES IS OPEN TO CONJECTURE. MOREOVER, THE COMMON ASSUMPTION BY TEACHERS THAT CHILDREN CAN AND SHOULD WRITE ABOUT PERSONAL INTERESTS OUGHT TO BE TEMPERED BY THE IDEA THAT MANY INTERESTS ARE…

THE TRENTON, MICHIGAN, PHASE-ELECTIVE ENGLISH CURRICULUM, APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGLISH (APEX), WAS DESIGNED FOR A SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL WITH AN ENROLLMENT OF APPROXIMATELY 2000. STUDENTS ARE PLACED ACCORDING TO ABILITY IN AN UNGRADED CURRICULUM INCORPORATING FIVE ABILITY LEVELS (PHASES) AND ARE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE FROM AMONG…

The hypothesis that role-playing scenarios specifying full rhetorical contexts were a superior means of eliciting valid writing samples for the purpose of assessing compositional skills of prospective Florida teachers was tested. In addition, topics for use on the initial administrations of the Florida Teacher Competency Examination's writing…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the impact of cognitive development upon audience awareness in the writing process, (2) a theory of college composition and academic prose, (3) public…

In an informal experiment, ten pairs of passages covering a range of writing (poems, narrative prose, legal writing, "educationalese," anthropology, and literary criticism) were presented to two sections of freshman English and two sections of a graduate seminar in which the students were primarily experienced high school and college…

Although the needs of American Indian college students in writing classes are very similar to those of Anglo basic writers, Indian writers often bring cultural and linguistic differences into the writing classroom. Indians are oriented only in the present, which affects their use of verb constructions; they are oriented toward sharing, which…

To accommodate the increased number of foreign students as well as to provide for their various levels of English proficiency, Paris Junior College (Paris, Texas) has expanded its English as a second language (ESL) program into intermediate and advanced levels. Although all of the foreign students have received prior instruction in English, most…

In order to provide entry-level students with an opportunity to explore career interests while receiving college credit, Johnson County Community College implemented a pilot course in Fall 1979 incorporating an emphasis on career decision-making in an English composition course. The course, which had an enrollment of 49 students in two sections,…

This paper discusses the similarities and differences between teaching composition to native speakers and to speakers of English as a second language (ESL). The concepts, strategies and conclusions are applicable to learners of any second language. Basically, the point is that the conceptual function of language, that language is self-expression,…

This is one in a series of eight discussion pamphlets produced by the Writing Across the Curriculum Project dealing with some of the issues connected with writing in the schools and their relation to learning. The eight papers in the pamphlet were drawn from a seminar involving 11 geography, history, and English teachers and are concerned with…