Once its source has been identified using the multidimensional model developed by D. W. Stacks, R. W. Boozer, and T. D. P. Lally, writing apprehension, especially among business writing students, can be treated in the classroom with specific pedagogical techniques. Emphasizing the writing process rather than the product--stressing peer and teacher…

Many writing process researchers have shown that students make only minor mechanical changes instead of revising their documents significantly. Effective revision pedagogy must address this problem by encouraging revision of content, arrangement, and style, and by directing student attention to all levels of the document, from the overall essay…

Reflecting new development in the field of rhetoric and composition, this textbook's third edition incorporates major changes which propose to turn theory into practical advice. These additions in the third edition draw on a new theoretical understanding of how writers operate within a discourse community, on a new research-based view of the…

Marion Sheridan, President of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1949-50, questioned traditional values, defending or assaulting them as the circumstances of a rapidly changing world deemed necessary. The voice that spoke through her writing was instrumental in modifying English curriculum. She pioneered the use of film in the…

An "authentic dialogue" is presented consisting of two case studies that describe how a process learning teacher became a co-learner with her students through the teaching method of natural learning. Two middle school students, a 13-year-old boy named Josh who dashes off his assignments with whirlwind nonchalance and a fourth-grade girl named…

An adjunct faculty member who teaches in three very different colleges and universities sees the similarity of course objectives for freshman writing, in which each program emphasizes rhetorical mode requirements to the exclusion of writing as discovery. Student writing is product-centered, and the writing act is linear in that it adheres to a…

A case study of writing behavior illustrates the potential rift between writers' awareness of audience perspective and their application of this knowledge. Twelve students (four each, aged 9, 13, and 18) in the San Diego, California, school system were asked by their teacher to write two letters about memorable places they had visited--one to a…

The articles in this journal issue explore classroom methods for enhancing language acquisition. The titles of the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) Forests and Trees: Conservation and Reforestation" (Joyce S. Steward); (2) "Using Literature to Teach Language" (Richard D. Cureton); (3) "Language Learning through…

A protocol study investigated whether computer tutors (programs that interactively guide writers while they freewrite with a word processing program) promote or hinder a richer understanding of the composing process. The analysis focused on writers' attitudes toward computer tutors in the invention process. Data were collected by tape recording a…

To characterize the influence of various constraints on students' composing processes, a study investigated the (1) type of instructions students received prior to their composing and revising sessions, (2) mode of production--whether a computer or paper and pencil was used for composition and revision, and (3) effect of skill level on students'…

A study of over 200 personal narratives, in which college freshman writers related their experiences of achieving literacy, offered insights into cultural differences in attitudes toward literacy. The activity of becoming literate was fundamentally the same for males and females, but the myths they used to understand and explain their experiences…

Unless students have an appropriate attitude toward revision--the keystone of the writing process--teachers who institute writing process approaches face frustration and failure. Implementing the following suggestions may help increase revision in the classroom. First, while the mature writing process is not strictly linear, students developing…

The use of microcomputers as word processors for writing papers is commonplace in English departments, but there are many less well-known uses that English teachers can make of the computer. For example, word processing programs can be used to teach sentence combining. Moving text on the screen is very easy, so it is possible to rearrange words or…

Analysis of the variety and complexity of processes involved in composition suggests that while there is much a teacher can do to help students become proficient writers, it is also important to recognize that teachers have certain limitations. These include the degree to which they can provide students with knowledge about the writing topic;…

It is important that teachers help students to realize that writing is not simply a product, or a means to an end, but an exploratory, cyclical process. Research has shown that skilled writers conceptualize the effect of their writing as a whole, as a generative process, whereas unskilled writers are distracted by surface-level features and are…