The two objectives of this study were to compare the results of the teaching of written composition to high school students, using a problem-solving approach, with the results obtained using a traditional approach, and to determine if a problem-solving approach produces a significant difference in reflective thinking skills. Three null hypotheses…

"Saturday Subway Ride," a program designed to teach pupils creative thinking techniques and positive attitudes toward creative ideas, is a 92-page workbook in a story-exercise format. Secondary objectives for the product include improving verbal fluency and creative writing. Three classrooms 61 sixth graders and 34 fifth graders at two…

This study investigated the effectiveness of the Story Writing Scales of the Personalized Progress Assessment set in determining the writing capabilities of fourth, sixth, and eighth graders and assessed the relationship between students' story-writing competencies and their achievements in reading comprehension, vocabulary, usage, and spelling.…

This monograph reports a longitudinal study of the language development of 211 pupils as they progressed from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Data include transcribed interviews, written compositions, reading and IQ scores, listening scores and ratings, teachers' ratings on specified language factors, and reports of books read. Results…

As part of a project to improve education in the basic skills, this report reviews the research literature in order to specify skills in the areas of reading, listening, speech, writing, handwriting, spelling, and mathematics. For each area, preliteracy, basic-literacy, and career-literacy levels of the skills are discussed and summarized in chart…

A program for low-achieving students at a Connecticut community college involves one course combining the fundamentals of reading and writing, which is taught in conjunction with a college-level, introductory psychology course. This program is based on four assumptions: that adult learners can gain critical consciousness within a literacy program,…

The methods and objectives of teaching Arabic in the Arab world are outlined here. In elementary school (ages 6-12) about 1/3 of the instructional time is allotted to teaching Arabic. It aims to provide the child with basic skills in reading, conversation and writing. The speech taught is that of modern Arabic used by educated speakers. Reading…

Articles described a program for developing the writing readiness of students, for learning the value of money and its purchasing power, and for learning about nursery rhymes as actors rather than just as readers. (RK)

Suggests having foreign language students write business letters to stimulate interest in developing writing skills. This project gives the students the opportunity of travelling abroad vicariously and to collect souvenirs while improving their communication skills in the foreign language. (CFM)

Types of errors Arabs make with definiteness are classified and the rate of occurrence of errors are counted. Sixteen three-hour college-level American history final examinations written by Arabic speakers were examined. (SW)

This article describes teaching strategies employed in a technical writing course for Latin American students at New Mexico State University. (CFM)

Describes a graduate course in the Teaching of Communication at Virginia Commonwealth University which altered students' writing behavior and attitudes toward writing. (DD)

Analysis of the development of realization of story structure in the written productions of fifth-, eighth-, and twelfth-graders revealed development by age in the degree of realization of an "ideal form" of story schema, with the development rate depending on whether stories are true or invented. (Author/CB)

A six-month observational study of Southeast Asian children (N=4) as they wrote and revised various pieces in English (their second language) revealed that the subjects developed three areas of writing skill: a sense of audience, a sense of voice, and a sense of power in language. (Author/CB)

Posing as an avuncular letter writer, the author discusses the problems faced by first-time teachers teaching fourth-grade composition. Proposes exercises to motivate children to write, communication inspiring ways to arrange classroom environment, guided free-writing assignments, and heuristics prompts for writing a fairy tale. (JG)