Compares writing errors made by college freshmen and professional writers. Explains that 20 student essays were compared to 20 essays from the students' textbook, "Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition." Notes that students and professionals were almost equally prone to commit errors. Offers suggestions for improving student writing.…

Analyzes the persuasive essays of high school juniors and seniors to determine the specific rhetorical and linguistic features that contributed to raters' holistic judgments about the overall quality of the essays. Reports that use of logical appeals, five-paragraph structure, coherence, and number of words were strongly correlated with overall…

Some solutions are offered for three large-class testing problems: how to offer students an opportunity to be assessed in an essay format without straining the available grading resources; deal with students who miss a required examination; and generate large numbers of new, relevant examination questions regularly. (MSE)

Examines the history of moralizing in students' writing in college writing courses, and tries to determine how assignments that direct students to write about moral issues became entrenched in curricula during the late 19th century at Harvard College, the institution that strongly influenced composition instruction across the country. (SR)

Examined how information-processing load affects the writing process by having 40 undergraduates write a short essay up to a supplied ending sentence with increasing content constraints. Results found that a high information-processing load led to lower-rated story coherence, but not to lower- rated quality. (36 references) (MDM)

Examines basic writers' analyses of essay examination questions. Reveals a number of preference patterns that may be weighed both against general teaching and assessment theory and against the particular constraints of specific contexts. Concludes that basic writers have much to contribute to the writing of essay examination questions and the…

The nine essays of this anthology attempt to apply some ideas of the French philosopher/historian Michel Foucault (1926-84) to past and present school practice. However, to follow Foucault's lead is to risk embracing a state of perpetual uncertainty about the fabrication of knowledge and power. (SLD)

Types of questions that will stimulate student participation in French literature classes are discussed. After a summary of ineffective approaches, factors influencing development of effective questions are assessed: preparation, reformulation, and progression. Examples are included. (Contains nine references.) (LB)

Testing of a model intended to help students focus on positive aspects of second-language learning to reduce language anxiety found that the use of a focused essay, forcing students to concentrate on their reactions to events, helped to alter students' self-perceptions of their language learning ability. (63 references) (CB)

Describes the essay test feedback technique of selecting a very good, or full-credit, essay answer from a student in class and distributing an anonymous copy of it to all class members. Reports that the results of a student assessment of the technique indicated that this form of feedback is helpful. (DSK)

Self-assessments of coursework essays were compared with tutor grades for 67 college students. Students could accurately assess their overall essay grades and could give an overall rank for deep processing, but when judging essays on individual criteria they were not so accurate when compared to tutor evaluations. (SLD)

Gathered judgments of 253 minority group students and 268 other college students who took the Graduate Record Examination about essay prompts being considered for use in a graduate writing test. Identified several features that underlie examinee perceptions of essay prompts, especially the extent to which prompts allow examinees to draw on their…

Presents a model-based approach to rater reliability for essays read by multiple raters. The approach is motivated by generalizability theory, and variation of rater severity and rater inconsistency is considered in the presence of between-examinee variations. Illustrates methods with data from standardized educational tests. (Author/SLD)

Lecturer feedback on students' essays is important to the quality of the experience students have at university (Norton & Norton, 2001). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether early childhood students at one university actually read lecturer feedback on their essays and, if they did, what they found helpful and not helpful to…

The following is an historically-based analysis of a new phenomenon affecting rural schools and communities: animal confinement operations. A contrast is made between "enclosure" as it unfolded in England a few centuries ago and the way animal concentration units constitute a second, "modern" form of enclosure today. In both…