Describes a study which explored developmental changes in preschoolers' knowledge of the writing system. The children were asked to write four utterances without knowing the purpose of the request and without additional explanations. The purpose was to determine how early children's graphic responses in decontextualized situations have features of…

Considers four issues that arise from work on origin and evolution of writing: (1) the functions of writing, (2) influence of writing and writing systems on the writer, (3) role of writing topic on writing, and (4) writing and the decontextualization of knowledge. Also considers the implications of these issues for research on and the teaching of…

Provides some historical sense of how the writing process/writing product antithesis developed. (HOD)

A college study examined whether students' ability to learn FORTRAN was related to the characteristic way they separate and organize information. Results and implications for further study are offered. (DF)

Presents specific practical suggestions about evaluating and selecting word processing programs and text editing programs for students learning to write on microcomputers. (CRH)

Describes a pilot program that used computers to help teach creative writing to children in New York's South Bronx. (CRH)

Discusses efforts at teaching children in kindergarten how to write, indicating that emergent readers can indeed write with scribbles, random letters, numerals, and sometimes words. Discusses their dictation, journal content, writing stages, and developmental trends. (HTH)

Howe describes the creative writer's responsibility as writing from his or her own inner person or truest self to the inner person of the reader. (CRH)

Urges that beginning writers be shown that by maintaining a consistent and appropriate rhetorical stance they not only signal their own role but also indicate the proper role for the audience to play. (MM)

Provides an absorbing analysis of the composing process as the author reflects on the act of writing in which he is himself engaged. (HOD)

Using electromyography, an investigation was made of the interaction between covert language behavior, rhetorical modes, and the reading and writing processes. (HOD)

Discusses the benefits of using a word processor for composition in the areas of prewriting, revising, proofreading, and printing. (AEA)

Reviews research indicating that children's writing moves in an age-related sequence from the literal and factual to the metaphorical and affective and shows a growth in awareness of the psychological characteristics of the self and others. Presents an analysis of children's stories that provides guidelines for teachers and researchers to use in…

Describes observations of classrooms in which the teachers participated with the students in writing exercises. Discusses the three teacher/writer roles that emerged during the class--teacher/writer as model, teacher/writer as learner, and teacher/writer as human being--and the bond of understanding that developed as the teachers as students…

Explores the role audience plays in composition theory and pedagogy by demonstrating that the arguments advocated by each side in the debate oversimplify the act of making meaning through written discourse. Points out the failings and strengths of each side, and proposes an alternative formulation that more accurately reflects the richness of…