Relates the story of a teacher research project, a case study designed to consider how word processing affected an undergraduate student's writing process, especially in terms of revising and of detecting basic surface errors. Describes research articles that substantiated what were originally thought to be idiosyncratic writing techniques. (PRA)

Studies second, fourth, and sixth grade students to answer four questions to determine whether comprehension of anaphora is a strong structural factor in children's personal composition as it is in reading comprehension. Concludes that students' reading and writing are correlated in the frequency and use of singular and plural pronouns. (MG)

Provides a brief history of research in word processing and writing, describes the use of word processing as a writing aid, and discusses the problems and issues in research design in the area of word processing instruction. (MG)

Presents findings from 18 reviewed studies with regard to attitude and the quality of writing performance. Discusses pedagogy and the problem of defining basic writers. Suggests research directions that can help move educators toward a new pedagogy. (MG)

Argues that writing instructors have a significant role to play in producing important computer-writing research. Asserts that the insights these instructors gain from teaching inform their research and guide their research practices by allowing them to distinguish subtle patterns and questions worthy of investigation. (PRA)

Uses on-line protocol analysis to contrast the effects on the writing process of knowledge taught in three instructional treatments: models, general procedures, and task-specific procedures. Finds that the task-specific group integrated their ideas purposefully, thought critically about the concepts being defined, and appeared to establish a…

Investigates whether prompts and topic types affect writing performance of college freshmen taking the Manoa Writing Placement Examination (MWPE). Finds that the MWPE is reliable but that responses to prompts and prompt sets differ. Shows that differences arising in performance on prompts or topics can be minimized by examining mean scores and…

Outlines the historical development of collaborative pedagogies in the United States of the 1920s, especially as influenced by the progressive educator John Dewey. Examines two key models, the Project Method and the Dalton Plan. Shows how proponents of these plans succeeded and how they failed. (HB)

Investigates the work of mentoring as situated within electronic exchanges. Explores strategies used by mentors to communicate their readings and suggested revisions of student texts. Analyzes the mentor responses according to patterns formed and other factors. (HB)

Provides a framework for analyzing the multiple aspects of reader perspective in a teacher's approach to writing instruction. Analyzes one teacher's written comments on her students' papers. Shows how this teacher's responses demonstrated marked differences according to level of student or type of writing assignment. (HB)

Describes how a university professor collaborated with a ninth-grade English teacher in a research project aimed at studying the collaborative writing processes of the students. Analyzes the various collaborative writing processes of the students, including audience awareness, planning, and revising. (HB)

Reports on the findings of a study that examined the persuasive written texts of 60 university first-year composition students, half of whom were native speakers of English and half of whom were nonnative English speakers. Considers 33 variables between the 2 subgroups. Finds clear differences. Discusses results and implications for…

Examines the use of the newspaper as a vehicle for poetry writing in an alternative classroom with two adolescents assigned to a residential drug treatment center. Presents and discusses poems written by several students following newspaper-based instruction. (SR)

Studies empirically the effects on reader performance of reduced text structure in technical writing texts. Reveals that removal of cues to local coherence produced reliable decrements in reader performance. Discusses results with regard to questions of information design. (HB)

Reports on an investigation into the types of writing placement that institutions are currently using, in addition to the kinds of writing courses offered. Outlines current writing placement procedures in hope of spurring further professional conversations concerning these practices. (HB)