In response to the Utah State Board of Education's new high school graduation requirements, five task forces of adult basic education teachers were charged with the identification of functional competencies for adult students in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and computation, and with the development of curricular materials…

The accuracy of predictions of future student performance on the basis of graphing data on semi-logarithmic charts and equal interval graphs was examined. All 83 low-achieving students in grades 3 to 6 read randomly-selected lists of words from the Harris-Jacobson Word List for 1 minute. The number of words read correctly and words read…

The 1981 Basic Skills Summer School Program in Montgomery County, Maryland public schools provided intensive remedial instruction in reading, writing, and mathematics to pupils who scored very low on national standardized achievement tests. An evaluation of the program's effects found that (1) over all, participating students in grades 4-8 scored…

A study examined the analytic writing development of high school seniors and college students. Subjects, approximately 50 high school seniors and 100 college students, performed two writing tasks on the same topic, one for an audience in agreement and one for a hostile audience. About a third of the subjects made taped protocols of their writing…

To provide an objective statement of how a wide range of students at the University of Texas at El Paso performed on a test measuring verbal basic skills, a computerized analysis of variance compared group mean scores on a test of basic skills competence for 1,553 students in 6 groups, including graduating seniors and students in 4 levels of…

Ideas for technical writing assistance and resources that are available to Purdue University faculty who incorporate a writing component into their courses are presented in this guide. Following an introduction containing the purpose, background, and scope of the guide, three main topics and their subtopics form the guide's structure: (1)…

In Western culture literacy encompasses a constellation of values and beliefs far beyond what might be attributed to the mechanical ability to read and write. Many people prize literacy as an end in itself, and attribute to it a whole spectrum of values and social privileges disproportionate to its actual functions in society. They forget that…

Four commercially available instructional software programs for high school journalism students are examined in this paper, which also contains suggestions on their use. The four programs reviewed in the paper provide (1) practice in finding the best interview sources in a newsgathering simulation (Super Scoop); (2) review and reinforcement of…

Intended to help elementary school children integrate the skills of writing and reading at an early age, this booklet discusses research concerning the cognitive processes and acquisition of reading and writing skills, and presents teaching methods and resources to help young children make the connection. The first half of the booklet explores…

A list of basic study practices and strategies, with examples and alternatives that focus on both receptive and productive skills and the value in interaction, is presented. The following hints are included: (1) don't study a language by yourself and in silence, but study aloud and with another person; (2) use the target language as much as…

Intended to give basic students simultaneous practice in reading and writing with an emphasis on accuracy, conciseness, and precision, the "finding the beef" method centers itself on summaries of news events. The first step of the method is to supply students with the appropriate data blocks based on news events, preferably those…

A study was conducted to examine the effects of students' interests on their writing. A group of 571 high school seniors, fluent and nonfluent in writing, completed a questionnaire dealing with aspects of writing interest, such as subject, form, or voice. Tape recorded interviews addressing the same aspects were conducted with 11 fluent seniors…

A study was conducted to explore the possibility of career education's impact upon a broad range of basic skills, including skill areas where standardized test scores are usually not available. Information was obtained through structured interviews with nineteen elementary (grades 1-5) teachers in seven schools in Rockford, Illinois, who were…

The swinging of the educational pendulum in English-from a disillusionment with teaching grammar in the 1960s to the romance with "the basics" in the 1970s reveals the failure of English teachers to come to grips with languge and learning. This failure is due largely to a prevailing orientation toward the study of language as an object, rather…

A one semester high school industrial English course emphasizes the reading, writing, and speaking skills that relate to improved performance and understanding of vocational concepts. The course, particularly valuable for students who do not plan to attend college, is built around 15 units, which are varied according to student needs. The units…