Examines the effects of various writing tasks (notetaking, answering study questions, and essay writing) on learning, using recall of specific text elements and recall of the theme or gist of expository writing. Finds that students' topic knowledge, passage content structure, and the nature of the task influence students' text comprehension. (MM)

Traces the development of studies of writing related to teaching and learning that have appeared in "Research in the Teaching of English" (RTE) between 1966 and 1986. Finds that RTE has served to both maintain the dominant paradigm and act as a forum for calls to pursue other research approaches. (JAD)

Examines the transitions that writers (college seniors enrolled in a 12-week corporate internship program) make when moving from academic to professional discourse communities. Reports a consistent pattern of expectation, frustration, and accommodation as writers adjust to their new writing communities. (MM)

Compares the effects of drama and discussion as planning activities for narrative writing in the second and third grades. Finds that writing quality of the group that used drama activities (developing individual ideas for stories through paired improvisations and role plays) was significantly higher than that of the control group. (SR)

Demonstrates how auditors use negative politeness strategies to meet the complex demands of potentially threatening interactional situations. Substantiates the claim that politeness is a linguistic universal by showing that the same politeness strategies found in speech also occur in written communication. (MS)

Views writing instruction as the techniques and approaches used by the teacher, as well as the learner's whole experience in the writing classroom. Drawing on research on writing in both first- and second-languages, an analysis focuses on the different aspects of writing instruction. (61 references) (Author/VWL)

Examines mathematical models of style analysis, focusing on the pattern in which literary characteristics occur. Describes an autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) for predicting sentence length in different works by the same author and comparable works by different authors. This technique is valuable in characterizing stylistic…

Describes a college teaching experience in which active visual analysis (hands-on deconstruction of visual statements to their constituent elements and principles) had an unblocking effect on concomitant writing assignments. Suggests that students can improve both verbal and visual articulateness when modes of perceiving and thinking are used…

Examines definite constructions in 15 editorial articles from the "Christian Science Monitor." Classifies each construction as either re-evoking, new, or inferable. Argues that inferable constructions are most interesting since they indicate what the writer believes the reader is capable of inferring. Concludes that such conventions make…

Investigates 11- and 12-year-old open-concept school students' reading and writing engagements as they conducted a research investigation related to World War II. Finds that students who viewed research as a process of transforming information were more likely to demonstrate a range of strategies that allowed them to traverse their topics from…

Advocates using writing portfolios for reasons ranging beyond traditional assessment. Shows how using writing portfolio evaluation changes the way teachers think about their roles and the ways they view students and student writing. Analyzes data in terms of teachers' changes gathered from teaching assistants initiating a portfolio system. (HB)

Reviews the role of textbooks for increased understanding of academic writing, arguing they are not appreciated. The dampening effects of introductory college textbooks, a reluctance to look beyond the student audience, and the commercial motive are reasons for rejection. Yet textbooks should not be excluded from research-process genres as they…

Reprints a 1988 article from this journal on the social world as a factor that influences the choices that young writers make in an urban primary classroom setting. Updates the article with an Afterword commenting on the earlier writing and discussing other more complex influences. (SR)

Provides a close study of the ways writing teachers "gender" themselves and their students. Gives extensive narrative description of how one writing teacher worked closely with two of her students and how this work shaped concepts of gendered selves for all three participants. (HB)

Provides an 86-item annotated bibliography of research published from July to December of 1994 in various areas of English pedagogy and instruction. Covers research in the areas of curriculum, language, literature, researcher education, teacher education, and writing. (HB)