Presents a continuum of composition teaching methods ranging from whole-to-part approaches (stressing free writing and developing voice) to part-to-whole approaches (stressing spelling, vocabulary, and usage). Recounts an evaluation of these methods by preservice teachers who favored the part-to-whole approaches. (JG)

Outlines the results of a followup study done in 1986 (10 years after the initial study) on why high school teachers can't effectively teach writing. The study finds that, despite reductions in class size, somewhat better teacher preparation, and higher awareness of administrators, the barriers to effective teaching of writing have not changed…

Analyzes the research process by examining student journals from a research paper course in which volunteers recorded their reactions to articles, how they were developing their topic, and problems they encountered. Concludes that the blocks encountered in the research process are more complex than and different from those encountered in other…

Compares American and French business correspondence with regard to format, organization, tone, and style. Argues that many of the differences result from cultural and value differences, French letters tending to be more formal and formatted differently. (RAE)

Examines the interpersonal relationship between Robert Michel, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and William F. Gavin, his speechwriter, and how that relationship structures and defines the speechwriting process. (RS)

Views purpose in writing as a complex web of meaning which writers build and which readers in their own, independently constructive way infer. (JAD)

Presents specific implications of writing research for teachers who work with gifted youngsters in elementary school writing. Supports the use of derived plot patterns and point of view as two types of literature-based writing assignments that work especially well with gifted students. (MS)

Compares and describes written language environments of kindergarten children in Scandinavia, Great Britain, and the United States. Finds a lack of written language in Scandinavian kindergartens, writing in the context of interactive play in Great Britain, and either academic writing instruction or developmentally appropriate print-rich…

Describes two studies that investigated the editing strategies used by college basic writing students as they corrected sentence-level errors in controlled editing tasks. Indicates that, in both studies, students showed two clearly different editing strategies: a consulting strategy and an intuiting strategy. (JD)

Examines two leading journals from both physics and educational psychology to see whether the research article introductions typically include statements of principal findings. Indicates (1) a mismatch between descriptive practice and prescriptive advice and (2) a diversity in this rhetorical feature between the two fields. (JD)

Offers a new theory of explanatory discourse intended to guide analysis of and stimulate improvement in explanations designed for the mass audience. Identifies research literature relevant to improving the quality of written explanations, organizes findings on effectiveness that resolve controversies in the literature, and suggests principles for…

Reports that professional writing students using computers wrote significantly better papers than their counterparts in traditional classrooms. Attributes the success of this study (other studies have failed to find significant differences) to the population of skilled, motivated, upper-level students and consistent use of computers from planning…

Indicates that using highlighters to mark errors produced a 76% class improvement in removing comma errors and a 95.5% improvement in removing apostrophe errors. Outlines two teaching procedures, to be followed before introducing this tool to the class, that enable students to remove errors at this effective rate. (JD)

Reports results of a study indicating that increasing computer time from one and a half hours to three hours per week did not improve the quality of students' newswriting, and suggesting that departments with small capital budgets need not necessarily invest huge amounts in computer terminals for every student. (HTH)

Describes a classification of organizational patterns for whole essays and a method by which both teachers and researchers may use it to analyze student essays. Reports the results of such an analysis applied to a controlled study of undergraduate writing. (HTH)