To identify and help alleviate the apprehensions of returning adult students at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 42 subjects were given the Miller and Daly Writing Apprehension Test (WAT) before and after a composition course, their grades were recorded, and their teachers completed questionnaires regarding student attitudes and performance.…

The brain-flow writing technique, which might also be called the "fast flow" technique, offers a particularly useful means of helping adults overcome writer's block. It also offers some bonuses in the form of enhanced creativity, improved thought-flow, and much faster writing output. There are six steps to brain-flow writing. In the…

Outlines a multistep writing program in which English as a second language students participate in the writing process and relate to their fellow writers (classmates and teachers) in various ways, using journals, learning logs, and essays. The extent to which activities increase writing proficiency and reduce students' writing apprehension is…

Describes a method for teaching developmental writing using reader-response theory and the works of James Joyce and Plato. (HTH)

Presents three broad areas--writing anxiety, motivation, and beliefs--that seem to be ripe for study in terms of affect, and suggests that the constructivist views refined by George Mandler could be helpful to drive such research. (NH)

Microcomputers are useful for writing in classrooms, especially if they are integrated into the classroom context through writing activities appropriate to this medium. Elementary school students' uses of microcomputers to: (1) create a newspaper; (2) send electronic messages; and (3) write reports or letters using interactive text programs are…

Provides advice for constructing an activity log directing students in writing a sociology term paper. Includes topic selection, outline, critical thinking, information gathering, analysis of findings, and completing a semifinal draft. Recommends that each step have a firm due date to reduce procrastination. Suggests that sequencing activities…

A college English teacher describes the anxiety and resentment of students during in-class writing assignments and the successful classroom use of meditation and body movement. Movement seemed to relax the students, change their attitudes, and release their creative impulses to write. Implications related to the body-mind connection are pondered.…

Developed for two grade 8 English classes in a large metropolitan high school in British Columbia (Canada), this paper presents the procedures for implementing and evaluating a 6-week unit on lifewriting, the composing of stories based on personal experience. The Lifewriting Curriculum is provided--six lessons including activities in which…

This document consists of six issues of a newsletter that provides a forum for the sharing of research findings and instructional strategies by faculty of Western Michigan University. Issue Number 1 addresses writing in the Writing Across the Curriculum Program with notification of a faculty workshop, hints on how to encourage good writing, and a…

This annotated bibliography describes research on the characteristics of apprehensive writers and on methodology which has been found useful in reducing anxiety and increasing writing achievement. Following an introduction, 27 annotations (dating from 1976 to 1990) are presented. A summary, conclusions, and recommendations follow. A 33-item…

A study investigated the effects that writing skills, sex, preparation, and knowledge of the composing process have on writing apprehension. Subjects were 42 male and 42 female high school seniors from rural or small city schools who were considered by their English teachers to be average or above average students. In addition to indicating sex…

A study tested the validity of a speaking apprehension questionnaire developed by Marshall that monitors the performance of secondary school teaching in oracy in the Netherlands. This questionnaire, intended for 11- to 16-year-old students, was administered to 86 secondary school students. The improved instrument, the Speaking Apprehension Measure…

Focusing on the relationships between performance, skills, and attitudes, a study conducted at the University of Arizona measured the effects of reading and writing apprehension on basic writers. Results from three survey measures and expository paragraphs and essays written by 59 college freshmen enrolled in a basic writing course provided the…

Although student writers will accept evaluation more readily from their peers than from their instructors, beginning writers in particular hesitate to offer suggestions to another writer because they do not want to hurt their fellow students' feelings, and because they do not feel they know enough to evaluate someone else's work. The collaborative…