Two studies of intermediate grade students with and without learning and writing disabilities evaluated the Self-Regulated Strategy Development model in teaching students how to plan persuasive essays before and during composing. Instructional effects were investigated using different research designs, in different settings, and with different…

Reviews Deborah Tannen's collection of essays, "Gender and Discourse." The review maintains that this collection is padded with anecdotes but provides little evidence of the research supposedly underlying this work. It is concluded that what is needed in a discussion of gender and discourse is a methodology in which linguistic features…

Presents an interview with medical doctor Richard Selzer, author of memoirs, essays, fiction and nonfiction. Discusses how a doctor must suppress and compartmentalize lust and revulsion "for certain ugly facts of the flesh." Addresses Selzer's continuing passion for writing, how he gets his ideas, and what it took for him to give up…

Extends a study on the developmental effects of learners noticing differences between their own and native speaker output. Spanish learners were assigned to three groups: task repetition, noticing, and noticing + simulated recall. Learners noticed differences between their own essays and reformulated writing and that there were quantitative…

Suggests English teaching in Iran has been a failure, partly because the language is not used as a means of communication, but is taught in isolated fragments. Discusses methods for testing writing, recommending essay tests over multiple-choice ones so the washback effect will encourage teachers and students to change their attitudes about…

Describes a study of law students at the University of Helsinki (Finland) hat examined whether a computer-supported learning environment enhanced essay writing by providing an opportunity to share drafts with fellow students and receive feedback from a draft version. Discusses results of interviews that assessed student attitudes. (Author/LRW)

Analyzes the extensive use of personal examples and stories in the academic essays of students who are nonnative speakers of English. Draws on a large database of college examination essays to compare the use of personal examples in essays written by native and nonnative speakers. Finds nonnative students not only use examples more often than…

Maintains that the five-paragraph essay formula confuses and alienates students and undermines the basic goals of writing instruction. Advocates developing a repertoire of alternatives for teaching form. Suggests that using the metaphor of the essay as journey is one such teaching alternative. (SR)

The devising of sets of multiple-choice questions on a poem or prose passage can be a useful exercise for teachers and students, because it obliges them to confront the question of what a reader must deal with in a text in order to arrive at an understanding of it. (MLW)

Offers a rationale for assessing entering students writing skills. Argues that locally developed writing skills tests are more valid than commercial tests. Suggests that teachers draw on their own experiences when constructing tests, develop holistic scoring guides, and involve a broad range of educators, parents, and students in scoring the…

Offers a practical curriculum for the composition classroom which takes into account a socially informed sequence of work. Argues that every student possesses a socially constituted generic lexicon which functions as a complex code of verbal behavior. Urges teachers to establish mediating links between familiar and unfamiliar generic contexts.…

Describes study that examined the effect of mood on college students' grading of 13-to 14-year-old students' essays. Research involving mood and behavior is discussed, the mood inducing films and feelings checklists used in the study are described, and an analysis of the results is presented that does not support a mood effect in essay assessment.…

Tips for English-as-a-Second-Language classes include collecting passport stamps in an oral skills class (R. Kay Hart); turning process essays into treasure hunts (Margaret Moulton); using icebreakers (Beverly Williams, David Rutledge, Brent Green); and techniques for understanding course syllabi (Ruth Overman Fischer). (LB)

This study describes the negotiations that occur during English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students peer reviews and the ways these negotiations shape students revision activities. Findings of the study support the need to include peer reviews in second-language writing instruction and underscore their value in providing feedback on students'…

Research on college student essay writing looked at the qualitatively different ways that students conceive of essays, and therefore approach the writing process, and the qualitatively different types of essays that result. The findings are compared, and implications for the teaching of undergraduate essay writing are examined. (MSE)