This English Language Arts Achievement Test was designed to evaluate the writing skills of third grade students. It includes instructions in which students are asked to write their own stories after reading a "story starter." The test instructs students to use their imaginations to finish the story and encourages them to do a prewriting…

This preliminary report of the 1988 Manitoba Writing Assessment Program contains a summary of student performance in grade 11 for the provincial sample as a whole. The report is based on 177 test papers from students enrolled in English 200 or English 201 in French Immersion programs. The first chapter describes the spelling exercise, the process…

Ideas and techniques are presented to make the instructional task of teaching writing in a large geography class easier and more effective. One technique is to allow students to engage in pre-topic and post-topic writing. Before a new topic is discussed, the teacher asks the students to write for ten minutes on anything they know about the topic.…

This study investigated student preferences for either teacher-written or computer-generated marking of written compositions. Ninety-seven high school students typed assigned compositions on a word processor. Three skills pre-selected by the teacher were checked on each composition. Students were randomly assigned to treatments so that, on the…

A study investigated the functional relationship that exists when mental ability and language competence are separately and simultaneously measured with regard to their influence on the effective treatment of verbal information. Data were gathered from 100 men and women, aged 20-60, who were tested for language competence, reading comprehension,…

The duty of conscientious writing teachers is to evaluate the kinds of feedback they are providing students, and to determine if it helps students to present ideas meaningful to them effectively in written discourse. Almost universally, the traditional way of providing feedback on student writing is by the red pencil method, which has made the…

This manual, accompanying the New York State Regents Examinations and Competency Tests, is intended for use by school administrators, guidance counselors, teachers, and proctors. Regents examinations measure the quality of instruction and learning that has taken place in high schools, and provide information for educational and vocational decision…

Intended to help teachers understand the complexities of the writing process, this pamphlet offers a model for writing conceptualized in three phases: stimulus, process, and product. The process phase is then examined from the perspectives of: consciousness, speed and elaboration, and mental/physical interaction. The following implications for…

Extensive research efforts in the past decade have measured academic proficiency and progress in both theory and practice of large-scale writing assessment. The following major situational variables were identified in these investigations: (1) topic variables such as writing prompts, subject matter, mode of discourse, length, and rhetorical…

Prewriting, writing, and revision represent vital elements in both the total writing experience and the evaluation of writing programs. An effective writing program should include (1) a written plan to guide composition instructors and ensure that students receive balanced instruction; (2) clearly stated purposes reflecting concern for composition…

Focusing on the nature of revision in lyric poetry, a study investigated poets' writing processes. Primary data sources included poets' commentary, letters, recorded conversations, interviews, and essays. Two case studies were also conducted--an evaluation of two poets at work (one a novice and one an experienced poet) and a textual analysis of…

Use of the casebook--selected magazine articles on a given subject, copied, stapled and given to each student--generates enthusiasm and improves the quality of high school sophomore research papers. The casebook approach ensures that no student is left behind in the topic selection or information gathering stages, and the teacher's familiarity…

To learn more about the impact of word processing on the writing of college freshmen, a 2-year study involving 320 students of average writing ability investigated whether (1) students using word processors write significantly better than those who do not; (2) manipulating and improving sentences on a screen affects students' awareness of grammar,…

A study was conducted by the Student Development Center of the University of Hawaii at Hilo to develop a writing placement procedure in a community college setting which would be practical, reliable, and valid. The key to this procedure was an English composition placement device that could help readers rate, holistically, writing samples written…

A research project investigated the relationship between cognitive development in college students and their rhetorical maturity. Viewing the problem of audience in composition instruction in terms of cognitive development reveals that it may not be enough to tell students that they must consider audience if they do not have the cognitive maturity…