Focusing on work of interest to college English teachers and researchers, this book offers an annual classified listing of scholarship on written English and its teaching at the college level. The book cites 1,656 articles, books, dissertations, and papers that, with few exceptions, were published during the 1992 calendar year. It furnishes…

To elicit some written comments about student views of revision, an English professor surveyed about 100 students in several different composition classes regarding what they would do if given the opportunity to revise a class paper. More than 80% of the responses explicitly mentioned errors in spelling, mechanics, or grammar. Several students…

In order to become empowered and autonomous writers, students need to learn self-evaluation techniques to help them revise their writing instead of simply editing it. Basic writers and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writers especially need concrete aids that can guide them, at least in the initial stages of learning, to write in a mode in…

This summary report is the third of three reports (Preliminary, Final, and Summary) of the findings of the 1988 Provincial Writing Assessment in Manitoba, Canada for grades 4, 8, and 11 of English language schools. It contains a brief description of the study along with recommendations. The report notes that the 1988 Writing Assessment was the…

This final report is the second of three reports (Preliminary, Final, and Summary) of the findings of the 1988 Provincial Writing Assessment in Manitoba, Canada for grades 4, 8, and 11 of English language schools. It contains an overview of the purposes, procedures, and a detailed presentation of the findings and recommendations of the Writing…

The point of view that teachers use in responding to students' writing affects the kinds of dramatized presences that teacher responses create. Such presences make available a range of reading and writing roles that students may adopt or reject. For a dramatic presence to be felt by a reader, a writer must select and sustain a clear means of…

This report describes the procedures used to collect, describe, and evaluate school-based writing in a special pilot portfolio study conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to explore portfolios as an alternative method of assessing students' writing achievement. The report has three main purposes: (1) to explore…

In continuing and building upon past efforts, the National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy, in collaboration with researchers and practitioners around the world, is forging new theoretical and pedagogical directions in writing and literacy. The Center's research projects and activities aim to respond boldly and straightforwardly to…

A study examined the oral comments of writing groups at different grade levels to determine if students are actually able to talk about writing, what kinds of comments they make about each other's writing, and what effects their comments have on the composing process. Nine groups of from four to six members in the fifth, eighth, and senior high…

A study examined peer group writing evaluation in the classroom. Freshmen in expository writing classes were trained at the beginning of the semester to respond first to the ideas in the essays, and only after giving the writer feedback on this level were they to help the writer with mechanics and syntax. After being divided into groups of four or…

A study investigated differences in writing processes among second year (age 10) and fourth year (age 12) English school children using a modified protocol procedure thought to be less distracting to the writing process. Four children from each grade level wrote a descriptive paper, and their spontaneous comments during the writing period were…

A study investigated the cognitive and grammatical activities carried out during writing by 22 incoming freshmen and 20 upperclass college students. It was hypothesized that the upperclassmen's compositions would be judged better in quality than those of the freshmen, and that the upperclassmen would show fewer pauses in which they were…

Fifty-five colleges that require graduating students to pass a writing proficiency examination were surveyed as to the form and nature of their examinations and the formal preparation and follow-up procedures offered to students taking the examinations. The examination formats fall into three broad categories: 62% are essay only, 31% are essay…

The synthesis of four instructional models for argumentative writing--the Toulmin, Hiduke, Winder, and Crebbe-Debate approaches--with basic discourse theory produces a practical and positive method of teaching college students to write effective persuasive essays. A battery of questions based on a modified communication triangle--subject…

On the premise that the kind of writing done in business and technical writing classes is a social act, the business and technical writing courses at Auburn University (Alabama) use peer interaction, revision, and audience awareness to help students become aware of and internalize the conventions of writing. Students are required to read each…