With the recent rise of sociocultural theory in second-language acquisition, attempts have been made to understand L2 learners' uses of different resources in writing, based on their cultural, historical, and institutional contexts. In line with L2 writing research within the sociocultural paradigm, this study investigates the writing strategies…

Whether writing a blog entry or a high-stakes test essay, fiction or nonfiction, short story or argumentation, students need to know certain things in order to write effectively. In 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know, Jeff Anderson focuses on developing the concepts and application of ten essential aspects of good writing--motion, models, focus,…

Although teachers today use a variety of teaching methods in content-area classrooms, lecture learning and note-taking still comprise a considerable portion of time in these classes. Unfortunately, most students are poor note-takers, typically recording only about one quarter of lecture notes. Strategic note-taking was developed to assist students…

A random national sampling of primary grade teachers in the United States were surveyed to determine how they teach revising to writers in the elementary grades. Our findings suggest that in our sample of teachers, little time is dedicated in the school day to writing and especially revising. The teachers believed that more time spent revising did…

In this meta-analysis, the impact of writing interventions on the quality of writing produced by students with learning disabilities (LD) was assessed. Ancestral and electronic searches were used to locate experimental, quasi-experimental, and within-subjects design studies with participants in Grades 1-12 with documented LD. The effects of…

The paper takes 414 graduates from ZJU in 2011 and 2012, NIT as a case, analyzing the status of their writing of graduation thesis. It is found that a considerable number of students have problems in selection and report of topics, writing of each part and debating in the whole process of graduation thesis. In view of the situation, based on the…

This study explores the construct of a summarization test task by means of single-group and multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM). It examines the interrelationships between strategy use and performance, drawing on data from 298 Taiwanese undergraduates' summary essays and their self-reported strategy use. Single-group SEM analyses…

Here, the author looks at four diaries, more specifically three conventional diaries and a blog: "The Diary of a Young Girl," by Anne Frank; "Zlata's Diary," by Zlata Filipovic; and "Last Night I Dreamed of Peace" by Dang Thuy Tram. "Baghdad Burning" is the transcript of a web log, a blog, by a young Iraqi woman who went by the pseudonym…

In professional writing, usability testing investigates how well users can find, understand, and use a document (Lannon). Usability testing involves gathering feedback from users, analyzing how successfully they used the document, and drawing on the test results to change or refine the design. From the authors' experiences as writers and teachers,…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Practice Guide, "Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers," offers educators four specific, evidence-based recommendations that address the challenge of teaching writing in elementary school. This summary focuses on recommendation 2b of the four recommendations: Teach students to…

There is growing interest in disciplinary literacy instruction as a primary means of improving adolescent literacy outcomes. At times, this disciplinary framework has been represented as a replacement for the more broadly known general strategy instruction. However, disciplinary literacy, a potentially powerful idea, cannot replace general…

This article considers how narrative constructs could be used to strengthen the writing process. The authors outline the narratological devices of plot, point of view, authorial distance, and character, and examine how these concepts can be used when writing with qualitative data. Narratological tools equip the researcher to selectively manage the…

Writing needs to be taught, not assigned, but teaching writing well within a 43-minute period is a daunting task. This article describes how three 8th-grade teachers implemented a unit of study approach to teaching memoir writing in their language arts classes. Teacher and student decision making are highlighted in this inquiry process. ["Teaching…

An oxymoron is a simple contradiction, a juxtaposition of two inharmonious terms, such as "fiend angelical" in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." At first glance, literature and professional writing seem to be polar opposites; however, when one views them together, one can see unique, often interesting possibilities that add…

The practical, "how-to" companion to the more theoretically-oriented webtext in the Topoi section, Podcasting in a Writing Class? similarly provides a hypertext and series of podcasts--this time focusing on the construction and implementation of podcast assignments for writing courses. (Contains 7 tables.)