Reprints a 1987 article from this journal which warns against the pernicious effects of packaged, simplistic, approaches to inservice teacher education programs for the teaching of writing, sold as "like the Writing Project." Updates the article with an Afterword commenting on the earlier piece. (SR)

Reprints a 1990 article from this journal describing the central role that narrative--story--plays in language learning, using the example of two young men (a Cambodian immigrant and an American) working together. Updates the article with an Afterword commenting on the earlier piece. (SR)

Describes how, when a working writer visited a sixth-grade classroom on an ongoing basis to interact with students, the language and activities of the writing community changed in interesting and positive ways. (SR)

Discusses the dilemmas and the benefits, both academic and personal, involved in the personal essay writing class. Notes that students often pick painful topics to write about, and looks at research in trauma theory and cognitive psychology for information to help students move from a narrative that skims the top of their experience to images that…

Argues that information designers can obtain a better understanding of users by using the contextual inquiry methodology, which involves conducting open-ended conversations with users while they perform their work. Notes that information designers using contextual inquiry depend on context, partnership, and focus to make design decisions. Relates…

Describes a project incorporating writing-to-learn activities into an introductory finance class. Discusses benefits to students and teachers. (SR)

A discussion of undergraduate student essays suggests that students can improve quality by concentrating on the rhetorical effects of their writing. Results of a study conducted across six academic departments indicate that rhetorical organization is significantly influenced by departmental conventions. (29 references) (Author/LB)

Explicates issues related to teaching, evaluating, and remediating handwriting, via a case study. States that children with handwriting problems need empathy, understanding, early identification, and remedial assistance. (SR)

Studies how formerly weak writers manage to write adequately for their jobs. Concludes that the rhetorical, psychological, and social environment of the workplace fosters better writing in basic writers than the academic environment. Recommends writing across the curriculum for duplicating the workplace-writing content in college writing classes.…

Argues that children's literature enhances the teaching of reading skills, assists in language development, provides a good model for developing writing skills, and develops permanent reading habits. (SR)

Analyzes how students from different interpretive communities shape academic texts. Examines subjects' texts in terms of writers' manipulation of both content and procedural knowledge. Suggests that mere participation in an interpretive community without explicit instruction in its ways of writing can enhance students' ability to write in that…

Discusses the connection between editors and teachers. Describes the author's editor, who focuses on helping authors meet the expectations of gatekeepers. Discusses how professional writing teachers might use the author's editor as a teaching model (helping students write for actual audiences and teaching more about the text-production process),…

Investigates how accurately writers detect violations of the writing rules of Simplified English (SE) and what sorts of mistakes are likely to be made when text is rewritten to conform to SE rules. Concludes that training tools such as the Simplified English Analyser can lessen the writers' difficulties. (SR)

Describes a classroom study which found that mixed-sex collaborative writing pairs can be used effectively in the classroom to help students bridge the gender gap in their own writing. (SR)

Discusses teaching students in the collaborative writing classroom to acknowledge influences and credit sources. Offers classroom exercises as well as options for acknowledging sources. (SR)