This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the impact of cognitive development upon audience awareness in the writing process, (2) a theory of college composition and academic prose, (3) public…

During the 1979-80 school year, California public school students in grades 3, 6 and 12 were tested in the basic skills of reading, written expression, and mathematics. Complete statewide results of this California Assessment Program (CAP) are presented, including the following features that have become standard: (1) detailed findings including…

To accommodate the increased number of foreign students as well as to provide for their various levels of English proficiency, Paris Junior College (Paris, Texas) has expanded its English as a second language (ESL) program into intermediate and advanced levels. Although all of the foreign students have received prior instruction in English, most…

This booklet along with six others comprises a curriculum guide developed for adult education supervisors and teachers of undereducated workers or job seekers whose inability to develop the skills and obtain the knowledge necessary to meet the requirements of the working world are primarily due to a lack of competence in reading and math skills.…

Written for use with students in grades nine through twelve, this handbook links natural ecological issues with language arts instruction. It contains a series of lesson plans, each offering a number of suggested learning activities for use both in and out of class. The lessons are built around 12 major environmental concepts that form a framework…

Intended for use every day for a semester, this secondary seminar handbook provides a schedule, lesson plans, materials for classroom distribution, and a bibliography for a course designed to teach critical reading and basic writing skills through an in-depth study of Ernest Hemingway. Because the course requires that students write seven position…

This paper discusses the similarities and differences between teaching composition to native speakers and to speakers of English as a second language (ESL). The concepts, strategies and conclusions are applicable to learners of any second language. Basically, the point is that the conceptual function of language, that language is self-expression,…

This is one in a series of eight discussion pamphlets produced by the Writing Across the Curriculum Project dealing with some of the issues connected with writing in the schools and their relation to learning. The eight papers in the pamphlet were drawn from a seminar involving 11 geography, history, and English teachers and are concerned with…

Essays and reports useful to English teachers are collected under four headings: (1) "Issues and Problems" contains a 1959 report on the basic issues of teaching English, the Report of the Language Committee of the School and College Conference on English (April 1940), and the Report of the Literature Committee of the School and College Conference…

The 18 essays in this volume originated as talks given at the Yale Conferences on the Teaching of English. The first nine discuss where and how to begin writing, the subject matter and organization of student compositions, the relation of writing to reading and grammar, methods used to mark papers, and the evaluation and function of both…

The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness with which composition skills could be taught by the traditional theme-assignment approach and by an experimental method using weekly multiple-choice composition tests in lieu of theme writing. The weekly tests were based on original but typical first-draft compositions and covered problems…

The purposes of this bulletin are (1) to help teachers understand that evaluation is an essential part of the total composing process and involves both teacher and student, and (2) to establish evaluative criteria which reflect realistic objectives for the teaching of writing to students of varying abilities and age groups. Charts for both…

To teach students how to write in a contemporary style, a secondary-school English teacher must be able to describe adequately the kind of writing he expects. Since many modern writers frequently ignore the guidelines proffered in traditional writing handbooks, the "new rhetoric"--a descriptive approach to composition that substitutes…

When ninth-grade students are searching for help in expressing their newly discovered ideas, the principles of transformational grammar can be brought to their aid in the following ways: (1) Assign a provocative topic to the students which they are to discuss as fully as possible in one sentence. (2) Present only the kernel sentences of a…

This paper is intended to help teachers to focus on attitudes and techniques that are useful in working effectively in college skills centers and to become more receptive to the reality of their students' unique problems and needs. The first section offers exercises to help teachers examine their assumptions about learning and about basic…