This study investigated how domain specifications controlled topic and rater reliability. History students completed three performance tasks. For each topic, they took prior knowledge tests, read primary materials, and wrote explanatory essays. Using a theory-based scoring rubric, four raters scored all essays. The rubric worked similarly on the…

A study of features of men's and women's English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) compositions (linguistic accuracy, readability, conformity to assignment guidelines) among a group of junior college students in Quebec found the two groups' writing of comparable linguistic quality. Superior marks received by women were found attributable to the way they…

Offers a detailed text analysis of written feedback given by two teachers of English-as-a-Second-Language students. Considers this feedback in terms of it functions as praise, criticism, and suggestions. Explores the motivations for these through teacher interviews and think-aloud protocols and examines cases where students failed to understand…

Weekly reading and writing workshops held with Caribbean middle school girls led to an understanding that concepts such as cultural relevance and gender sensitivity were inadequate in light of the complex, multidimensional identities they were required to negotiate on a daily basis. The paper argues for pedagogies that involve Caribbean girls in…

Evaluated the effectiveness of Book Buddies, a volunteer tutor program designed to improve young elementary students' reading and writing skills, using diverse older adult tutors and a rigorous experimental versus control group design in a high-poverty, urban setting. Overall, students participating in Book Buddies were significantly stronger in…

Describes how caregivers can support young children's writing development. Outlines stages of writing: scribbling, drawing, invented letters, random letters, copying words, developmental spelling, and conventional spelling. Provides tips on what to say to children in each stage of writing. (KB)

The recent reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA; 2004) is first discussed in its historical context. Then, a programmatic line of research (funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development since 1989) is described that is relevant to a proposed model for universal…

Investigates use of a functional approach to discourse analysis--knowledge structure analysis, which focuses on meaning, form, and function simultaneously--to evaluate both writing development and content learning. Examined written texts in science, produced by English-as-a-Second-Language students with limited to intermediate English language…

It is known that communication is central to the learning process. An early childhood classroom minus the busy hum of children and teachers interacting is the opposite of a developmentally appropriate environment. Communication can be specifically linked to the expanding skills of listening and speaking, as children connect to the reading and…

Effective writing is a typical goal in undergraduate education, especially in general education program. In a survey recently conducted at the University of South Florida, one faculty member said, "I responded [to this survey] because I strongly believe that writing skills are essential for all college students regardless of their major field…

In recent times there has been much debate about the literacy levels of students in our schools. Federal and State Governments have provided extensive resources to improve the literacy standards of our tertiary, primary and secondary students. As part of this emphasis on literacy the role that writing plays in student learning has been…

School- and university-based writing tasks make demands on cognitive processing and socio-cultural knowledge that vary with the discipline in which the writing is situated. The variation in socio-cognitive demands makes the use of self-accessed, computer-mediated writing instruction more promising than conventional, teacher-fronted instruction. To…

A sentence variety exercise, used to help student writers consciously consider and control the lengths and types of sentences in their essays, is discussed. Students revised paragraphs according to the method and reflected on whether they found the exercise useful in improving their writing. Reactions were mixed, although most students were able…

Instructors of business and technical communication have held an ongoing interest in using client projects to give students practical experience negotiating the contingencies of workplace communication. Whereas alumni often serve as contacts for internships and job opportunities and have been identified as resources for assessing business…

In this replication study, supplemental writing instruction in strategic planning was used to improve the story writing ability of young writers with learning disabilities (LD) and poor writing skills. Six 2nd-grade students with learning disabilities who experienced difficulty with story writing were taught a strategy for planning and writing…