Provides information on statistical data and jargon so that English department members can more confidently and responsibly identify the inevitable weaknesses and limitations of both tests of writing ability and the research on them. (RL)

Investigates the question of T-unit length stability in informative discourse written by freshmen near the end of an intensive course in college writing. (HOD)

Examines two very different views of essay assignments and essay writing, both evident in the teaching of nineteenth-century Scottish rhetoricians. Comments on what these rhetoricians wrote to their students about the students' essays. Reveals no unanimity on composition activities and on what the rhetoric or composition class should include. (RL)

Describes a study designed to test whether any teacher's approach to freshman composition improved student writing by holistically scoring student writing samples. Discusses the results, reactions, and implications parallel to a story of a trip to an ancient Greek temple. (HTH)

Surveys recent trends in the area of clear writing. Discusses the problem of incomprehensible language in functional writing (forms and documents). Considers solutions, particularly those developed by the Document Design Center. (PD)

Examines the relative effects on holistic scores given to college students' expository essays of three types of variables--essay, reader, and environment. (HOD)

Investigates how writers plan to produce discourse for different purposes--to report, to generalize, to persuade--as well as how writers plan for sentence level units of language. To learn about planning, an observational measure of pause time was used. (HOD)

An analysis of descriptive and narrative passages written by 45 first-semester college freshmen early in the semester suggests that mean T-unit length is not a stable individual trait either within the descriptive mode or across description and narration. (GT)

Experiments conducted with freshman composition students suggested that (1) the repeated use of a control stimulus passage does not result in increased syntactic complexity; (2) both overt and covert cues elicit more complex writing than do no-cue situations; and (3) the effect of overt cues seems to be retained, at least across a short duration.…

Describes a study that examined how audience differences, realized as varying degrees of intimacy or familiarity with a writer, affect syntactic and strategic aspects of style and that sought to determine the extent to which audience adaptation is developmental among fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students as well as expert adults. (DD)

Uses the concept of "genderprints" to discuss how the writings of a group of eighth-grade girls were infused with the multiple realities of their lives as young women in a working-class neighborhood. Discusses the kinds of writing done by the girls, how choices of genre and topic reflected their gendered voice, and ways that they…

Suggests that it may be important for teachers (1) to identify the social elements and pressures that kindergarten children must manage as they try to "write themselves" in an interactive environment; and (2) to identify the coping strategies children develop to accommodate their social agendas. (SR)

Examined writing development of 12 children in prekindergarten classes using computers in self-selected language experience activities. Found that 3-year-olds steadily improved in spelling and story writing, and improvement continued the next year. Children who were exposed to writing as 3-year-olds showed greater gains in spelling accuracy the…

Investigates the impact of portfolio assessment strategies on second graders' perceptions of themselves as writers. Finds that the process had positive effects on students' perceptions of themselves as writers; their ability to describe strengths and weaknesses in their writing; their ability to identify changes in themselves as writers; and their…

Examines the use of literacy portfolios in education methods courses at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse through the inclusion of an external reviewer in the evaluation process. States that students construct a portfolio as a culminating project which reflects the learning they acquire in on-campus and field-site work. Finds that including a…