Examines both what it means to teach writing and what it means to write in a first-year university course in the history of science. Investigates what students learned about writing when the focus was on subject matter and secondarily on writing and rhetoric. Raises the question of whether disciplinary courses in writing provide an authentic…

Examines General Beauregard's inability to communicate in his report of the First Battle of Bull Run. Suggests that Beauregard's success on the battlefield came from the initiative of his junior officers. Concludes that Beauregard failed to consider political ramifications of certain statements in his report, offending President Davis and leading…

Studies students' writing, thinking, and cooperative processes in a research and argumentation class (part of a first-year composition sequence) working on a research assignment in small groups. Suggests ways to help students become more successful cooperative researchers. (SR)

Argues that teachers need a comprehensible and flexible view of what counts as a written text in the larger world outside the classroom. Discusses two cases that demonstrate working with middle schoolers and their writing. Discusses the kind of knowledge about written text that teachers of writing need, and offers recommendations for teacher…

Presents a case study of one first-grade student's literacy behavior while corresponding through email during a 13-month period. Presents guidelines for teachers for developing an email pen-pal project. Suggests email is a powerful new medium for writing. (NH)

Describes outcomes of a national investigation in the United Kingdom into linguistic characteristics of writing in GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) English examination. Argues that greater precision in describing writing will promote better teaching and learning. (NH)

Discusses ethnographic research in education issues that pertain to studies of second-language writing, examining six principles of ethnographic research, proposing and describing a prototype definition, reviewing three recent ethnographic studies of second-language writing, discussing generalizability, and introducing a series of issues critical…

This article lays out a program of research designed to address one specific need of young children--to learn how to write--based on one specific ability of young children--the ability to tell stories. The model underlying this research program describes how non-screen-and-keyboard-based technologies that "listen" to children can be used to…

As reading and writing are both language processes, one can assume relationships between them, but the exact nature of these relationships has not yet been determined. While a large body of research has addressed reading comprehension and written production independently, very little investigation has examined the possible relationships between…

Much of the writing research on generation 1.5 students has focused on college students in educational contexts, especially either freshman composition or college ESL writing classes. Relatively little is known about them in K-12 settings, especially high-school students, despite their growing presence in these settings. In addition, there is a…

For teacher educators, genre-based pedagogies offer a valuable resource for assisting both pre- and in-service writing instructors to assist their students to produce effective and relevant texts. Instead of focusing on the process of composition, the content of texts, or the abstract prescriptions of disembodied grammars, genre pedagogies enable…

In this article we report on a study in which verbal protocol data were used to explore English as a foreign language writers' planning behavior while engaged in academic writing tasks. The analysis was approached from a temporal perspective (i.e., time spent on planning operations) in relation to three independent variables: (a) the participants'…

This paper written in French (the first phase of an ongoing research project) endeavors to set off the influence of introduction of imaginary writing workshops over the social and affective development of children from 2 to 5 years old. This influence is more precisely centered on the "power to read" (power of separation, distanciation,…

A study examined the writing practices, attitudes, and beliefs about the importance of writing at work of "basic" writers and "strong" writers. Subjects were graduates of Francis Marion College for the years 1984 to 1989. Questionnaires were returned by 119 of the 182 basic writers (identified through placement in remedial…

Recent rhetorical research in professional writing raises the issue of the absence of discussion of "resistance" in professional and nonacademic writing research. A study of a biologist working at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico suggests that ideological "resistance" occurs even in the realm of technical writing.…