This dissertation reports on how features of interactions and instruction contributed to an elementary classroom culture of reading and writing that students and their teacher worked together to develop. Positioning theory informed analysis of participants' interactions as they used texts in social and academic ways. The theory of figured worlds…

First-year composition pedagogy and course communication (especially as implicitly endorsed by institutionally presented means) is often limiting in modes and modalities, which juxtaposes vibrant composing practices in the daily lives of students. Additionally, writing program requirements tend to value primarily alphabetic texts despite…

Web-based digital video (DV) applications such as Animoto, Magistro, and Videolicious allow users without technical experience to easily create quality video by matching up appropriate images with text and sound. DV's multimedia capabilities encourage students to become more proficient in new literacies as well as new technologies. This piece…

The design and implementation of hybrid, technology-enhanced learning environments is a sophisticated process, especially when incorporating relevant sociocultural factors to support culturally and linguistically diverse students' learning. In this paper, I review and provide a description of an iterative design process for a mobile-assisted…

The problem of mastering English does not involve students alone. The English language teachers, policy makers and curriculum developers are also affected. Thus, teachers have resorted to using higher order thinking skills (HOT) as a means to teach writing to weak ESL learners. The study aimed at developing and validating a higher order thinking…

The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of Iraqi high-school teachers and students towards teacher written feedback in writing classes in Suleymaniyah and Erbil. A quantitative method was conducted in this study. Two different instruments were used in the study; which are teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire. A total of…

The qualitative study shows how 20 teachers from 4 districts in the same state enacted mandated school-wide writing curricula. Analyses of the observations and interviews revealed that 4 teachers were faithfully following the district-adopted curriculum, 4 rejected it, and 12 teachers adapted the curriculum to meet their students' needs. The…

This multiple-case study design with embedded units of analysis examined a two-year professional development (PD) program in which two rural districts received at least 90 hours of PD. This PD was provided through an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant that the United States Department of Education awarded to the National Writing Project. Two of…

Considering the importance attached to writing as a life skill, this study investigated the nature and variability of adults' aid to Zambian second graders in the context of shared writing in Bemba (first language), and the relations between this support and students' literacy and cognitive-metalinguistic skills. Fifty-seven children and their…

In this case study, I examine the ways adult learners improve skills and practices around communication, problem-solving, motivation, self-esteem, and technology through engagement in a makerspace curriculum focused on composition. A primary objective is to provide insight into the various ways that adult education environments can incorporate…

This study has two research purposes related to L2 writing development. The first aim of this study is to explore how L2 learners receiving intensive ESL instruction develop their writing proficiency (writing quality from an analytic rubric) across two writing tasks (narrative and argumentative writing) over one semester. Limiting its focus to…

Although teaching argumentative writing in schools is often about teaching argumentative forms, this instructional approach limits students' flexibility and choice as writers, readers, and meaning makers. An alternative method, rooted in tenets of genre theory, offers a different approach. Rather than treating argument as a static form, genre…

Writing has been often viewed as a cognitive or social task and instructional practices are influenced by one or the other perspective. However, alternatives may need to be considered that are not as polarized and consider individuals, their environment, their development, their needs, and the role of community (Graham, in press). The purpose of…

Writing proficiency is heavily based on acquisition and development of self-regulation and transcription skills. The present study examined the effects of combining transcription training with a self-regulation intervention (self-regulated strategy development [SRSD]) in Grade 2 (ages 7-8). Forty-three students receiving self-regulation plus…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) Exact and Adjacent Inter-rater Agreement Associated with Peer Review of Teaching (Robert Koslow); (2) Examine Assessment of Student Learning outcomes as an Organizational Routine (Antigoni Papadimitriou); (3) Developing a Reliable and Valid Assessment Tool for Online…