The language performance and experiences of four eleventh grade Canadian vocational students were examined over six weeks in four individual interviews and four group discussion sessions. Additional data were collected by observing the students in their English classes and work situations. These case studies revealed the following: student…

This report delineates the step-by-step process of planning, holding, and following-up the 1978 Summer Invitational Workshop on Teaching Writing held by the Southeast Center for the Teaching of Writing (SCTW) for teachers at the elementary through the college level. The various sections of the report contain a description of the SCTW, its…

ONE THOUSAND STUDENT ESSAYS WERE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT STUDENTS WHOSE TEACHERS POSSESS "MORE STRICT" STANDARDS IN COMPOSITION INSTRUCTION PERFORM DIFFERENTLY ON A STANDARDIZED ESSAY TEST THAN DO THOSE WHOSE TEACHERS HAVE "LESS STRICT" STANDARDS. FIFTH- AND SIXTH-GRADE CHILDREN FROM ALL OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS…

A DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC PROCEDURES FOLLOWED IN TEACHING A HIGH SCHOOL "CREATIVE WRITING" COURSE IS NEEDED BECAUSE COURSES BEARING THAT NAME ARE VARIOUSLY CONCEIVED BY TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS AND VARIOUSLY INTERPRETED BY SUPPORTERS AND CRITICS. SUCH A COURSE SHOULD BE DESIGNED TO AVOID THE CRITICISM THAT CREATIVE WRITING FOSTERS "EASY-GOING…

Essays and reports useful to English teachers are collected under four headings: (1) "Issues and Problems" contains a 1959 report on the basic issues of teaching English, the Report of the Language Committee of the School and College Conference on English (April 1940), and the Report of the Literature Committee of the School and College Conference…

The 18 essays in this volume originated as talks given at the Yale Conferences on the Teaching of English. The first nine discuss where and how to begin writing, the subject matter and organization of student compositions, the relation of writing to reading and grammar, methods used to mark papers, and the evaluation and function of both…

The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness with which composition skills could be taught by the traditional theme-assignment approach and by an experimental method using weekly multiple-choice composition tests in lieu of theme writing. The weekly tests were based on original but typical first-draft compositions and covered problems…

The purposes of this bulletin are (1) to help teachers understand that evaluation is an essential part of the total composing process and involves both teacher and student, and (2) to establish evaluative criteria which reflect realistic objectives for the teaching of writing to students of varying abilities and age groups. Charts for both…

The English language arts "strand curriculum" of the Iowa Department of Public Instruction depicts a "framework" for a K-12 program and encourages teachers to be concerned with three major dimensions of learning--concepts, attitudes, and skills. "Optimum Goals" and "Basic Considerations" are outlined for each "skill strand" and for each "content…

The encouragement and formulation of a student's imaginative response to and "engagement" with literature and the concerns of the papers and summaries of discussions in this Dartmouth Seminar report. James Britton discusses refining the student's natural response to literature by developing his increased sense of form ("principally…

This report presents the problems and activities of the University of Georgia English Curriculum Study Center in creating a curriculum in written composition for children from kindergarten through grade 6. The design of the curriculum study center is discussed in terms of the rationale behind the study, the necessary basic research, the objectives…

To teach students how to write in a contemporary style, a secondary-school English teacher must be able to describe adequately the kind of writing he expects. Since many modern writers frequently ignore the guidelines proffered in traditional writing handbooks, the "new rhetoric"--a descriptive approach to composition that substitutes…

When ninth-grade students are searching for help in expressing their newly discovered ideas, the principles of transformational grammar can be brought to their aid in the following ways: (1) Assign a provocative topic to the students which they are to discuss as fully as possible in one sentence. (2) Present only the kernel sentences of a…

In this thematic issue, articles focus on the use of phase electives in the English classroom. Discussions include "Death in the Classroom,""Soapbox Operas in the English Classroom,""Language and History in Phase-Elective Programs,""Phase Electives and the Problem of Composition," and "Phase Electives and College Preparation.""Phase Electives Are…

The paper examines past and potential contributions of literature to sociology and evaluates the relationship between the two disciplines. Emphasis is on explaining how the novelist's observation as embodied in a work of fiction may be used to further the work of the social scientist. Section I identifies major uses of literature in sociological…