Argues that criteria for grading essay questions in geography examinations must be explicit and must reflect the kinds of knowledge and abilities sought after in British undergraduate geography courses. Proposes evaluative criteria designed to encourage and assess critical thinking. Enjoins other geographers to further the debate. (CH)

This study at 21 colleges found that having entering freshmen write a short holistically scored essay added nothing to the prediction of freshman grade point average compared to predictions made from high school grade point average, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, and a multiple-choice test of writing-related skills. (Author/DB)

Describes a qualitative study of affective variables in the second-language experience. The study used as its data, graduate students' self-report papers about their Community Language Learning experience, which revealed three affective variables--anxiety, motivation, and attitude. (41 references) (JL)

Short essay questions are introduced into the calculus course as a technique to involve students with their own learning. Provides (1) instructions to the student for writing the report; (2) results of using the technique; and (3) reasons for using writing in mathematics classes. (MDH)

Native (n=46) and nonnative (n=27) speakers of English enrolled in university English courses reacted to 15 prompts from essay tests. Nonnative speakers chose prompts on topics of interest to them; with topics of equal interest, they chose the prompts offering the greatest scope for doing a lot of writing. (six references) (JR)

Introductory biology courses for majors are often quite large. The use of peer graders can help instructors use essay exams in large classes without being overwhelmed and still treating students fairly. Describes the procedure used for peer evaluation and explains the advantages for both faculty and students. (Author/PVD)

Reports on a study where tertiary English-as-a-Second-Language learners of intermediate and advanced proficiency were required to complete three types of grammar-focused exercises commonly used in the classroom: a cloze exercise, a text reconstruction, and a short composition. Comparison of exercises completed individually with those completed by…

Adolescents (n=18) with learning disabilities or low achievement were trained to use interactive dialogs to collaboratively plan and revise individually written opinion essays. Analysis indicated that, when compared with untrained controls, trainees improved significantly from pretest to posttest in clarity and cogency of their writing and…

Describes two projects promoting the exchange of essays between American students in intensive German language courses and German high school students. The article maintains that the easy availability of fax equipment in the United States and in Germany permits the use of this technology as a means of increasing the relevance of the writing…

Presents a case study comparing a native-speaker undergraduate's performance on an examination and a coursework essay. Relational analysis facilitated text-linguistic comparison of two texts. The study contrasts an adequate handling of material in memory in examination conditions with the uncertain handling of difficult source materials. (40…

Demonstrates the use of a multivariate technique known as logit analysis, applying it to authentic data drawn from Juurakko (1996) which studies the influences of the source language and the target language on the use of prepositions in Finnish pupils' learner Swedish. The interlanguage data for the analysis consist of essays written in Swedish by…

Recently, the popularity of timed-essay exams has increased, becoming part of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) in the late 1990s and now being incorporated into The College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in Spring of 2005 and ACT (American College Testing) test in Fall of 2004. This research evaluates the "value…

Good manners and false protests of ignorance about American history cloak underlying anti-American sentiments among students. Behind the facade, a jumbled set of emotions inform their discomforted imaginations. They are offended by the patronizing and condescending attitudes of Americans when the latter comment on, or intrude into, the outer…

In this essay, Christopher Winch explores the relevance of Ludwig Wittgenstein's account of rule-following to vocational education with particular reference to the often-made claim that any account of an activity in terms of rule-following implies rigidity and inflexibility. He argues that most rule-following is only successful when it involves a…

This study examined the predictive power of self-regulated strategies and test-taking motivation on achievement performances under consequential and non-consequential test conditions. Sixty-two undergraduate students were asked to take two parallel classroom tests: one that counted towards their class grade (consequential) and one that did not…