Focuses on improving business writing to meet the demands for greater effectiveness and less bulk. This process can proceed most effectively by addressing structure and the use of language. A modular approach can increase the effectiveness of letters as well as reports and proposals. Clarity and brevity in style will also improve modern business…

The extent to which the second-language English spelling of young Welsh-English bilinguals is systematically idiosyncratic was examined from free compositions written by 10- to 11-year-old children. A model is presented of the second-language spelling process in the form of a "decision tree." (Contains 29 references.) (Author/LB)

Examines interaction in public reports and assesses how relations between participants in the communication process give the text its distinctive shape. Four public reports in the environmental sciences were scrutinized closely. Results indicate that public reports have relevance and are a hybrid genre. Further research is recommended. (19…

This longitudinal case study follows the development of a woman with autism from mutism at age 10 to acquisition of a range of spoken and written language skills by age 26. Results support hypotheses that both spoken and written language may become feasible forms of communication in such cases, although some skills may plateau or decline.…

Written apologies of deaf students were examined from data obtained from a discourse completion test. Results show that both word choice and word order give a routinized feel to the apologies, in part attributable to American Sign Language; and that strategy choices may reflect a culture-specific view of social offenses. (Contains 44 references.)…

Theories of writing development put forth by C. Bereiter (1980), B. Kroll (1981), and K. Perera (1984) are reviewed and presented as frameworks for practitioners working with students having language learning disabilities (LLD). The theories are considered with regard to the assessment of written language, and written language intervention…

Two minipresentations by second-language teachers describe their classroom efforts to instruct their students. The first article focuses on using computers to help students improve their writing skills. The second zeroes in on incorporating speaking activities into the daily life of the classroom. (CK)

Reports on a pilot study that attempted to uncover, through classroom observations, how experienced social studies teachers explore and reinforce student understanding of concepts that comprise the adopted curriculum. Particular attention is paid to the use of metaphors, analogies, and similes as examples or reinforcements of verbal or written…

Examines second-language classroom applications of computerized text analysis by English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writers, suggesting that the Grammatik III disk-based text analyzer may not be a suitable addition to ESL composition pedagogy. (16 references) (Author/CB)

Students at the Lexington School for the Deaf (New York) were immersed in a print environment devoted to the study of earth science, using computers linked into a local area network. Students used databases, a text editor, and electronic mail to receive and submit assignments and messages and to keep logs of daily activities. (JDD)

Investigated ways in which different writing tasks influence quality and quantity of foreign language composition, as well as writing strategies used by American college students when composing in Japanese as a foreign language. Study proposed to compare qualitative and quantitative differences between descriptive and narrative writing tasks; to…

Analysis of 19 language features in impromptu essays written by 96 students (half males, half females) from grades 4, 8, and 12 enabled researchers to identify the gender of the writer 84-87 percent of the time. Further analyses established a relationship between this "gender-linked language effect" and subjective attributional ratings by…

Reports on experiments where Arabic-speaking subjects were asked to scan arrays of digits in both standard "Western numeral" and "Indian numeral" forms, and compares array-scanning patterns observed with patterns observed with speakers of other languages, particularly English. The implications in terms of the use of…

Two experiments are reported on the array-scanning characteristics of Malaysian subjects exposed to arrays of Roman and Arabic letters. Unique search patterns were found with both letters. Ways are discussed in which these patterns may be related to the underlying linguistic structure of words in Bahasa Malaysia, English, and Arabic. (13…

Describes the compilation of the Future Teachers' Frequency Vocabulary, based on 236 written compositions by students at a teacher training college in Belgrade. Results were compared with the Child Frequency Vocabulary compiled in 1983, based on children's compositions. (LET)