The 80 loan officers in a commercial banking division provided data about their writing on the job. The data were collected during interviews and with a questionnaire. The executives reported no specific training for the writing they did. The bank did not offer any guidelines or training courses for performing job-related writing tasks, assuming…

Designed for educators actively involved with the teaching of writing, this report contains an overview of the procedures and a detailed presentation of the findings and recommendations of the 1979 Manitoba (Canada) Writing Assessment program. Following an introduction, the five major sections of the report provide the following information: (1)…

Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) is a theory that predicts how units of information should be distributed in a sentence and how sentences should be related in a discourse. A binary topic-comment structure is assigned to each FSP sentence. For most English sentences, the topic is associated with the subject or the left-most noun phrase, and…

Although the design of the writing task itself may present assessment problems, the scoring of the piece of writing raises the greatest difficulties for large-scale testing of writing ability. A study investigated whether teachers and staff members of the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) (1) scored the same way, (2) agreed with each other in…

A brief review of the state of the art of writing research suggests several areas in which future research could be profitable. These areas include: (1) extended use of individual case studies as a source of insight to the creative process, perhaps gathered together by a bibliographical center for classifying and indexing to demonstrate the…

Reports analysis of 1,892 essays written by 11 graders in a district-wide writing assessment. Scored for ability to (1) use conventions of standard written English and (2) support an argument, the papers show that 17-year-olds have trouble supporting an argument despite proficiency in mechanics. Argues against teaching superficial correctness. (JG)

Discusses the following major theories in humanities and writing scholarship: (1) that relationships between humanities/arts and science/technology are cyclical, (2) that a discourse continuum is more useful in analyzing prose than a discourse taxonomy, and (3) that context creates meaning. (AEW)

Reveals some sources for the problems entering college students have with college writing programs. Suggests parallels between the shortcomings of high school writing instruction and those of college programs, and that the central ideas of college writing programs are antagonistic to the view of writing students receive in secondary school. (SKC)

Reported on the application of a speech communication instrument called the RHETSEN scale, which sorts subjects' responses by rhetorical sensitivity, noble self, and rhetorical reflector. Subjects were members of the Society for Technical Communication. Found that sex, age, and education level affected response type significantly. (SKC)

Asserts that the position of English in two-year colleges may be reinforced and strengthened through the close study of writing performed by students who have graduated. (RAE)

Argues that writing apprehension can be dispositional, but that it can also arise in response to elements in the writing situation. Discusses the elements in timed writing competence tests that can trigger writing apprehension and hinder effective writing. (JK)

Argues that using models of adolescent cognitive and affective development in the construction of writing programs is a flawed approach. Discusses four "environmental" or sociological influences which cut across developmental grids and suggests the necessity of going beyond such developmental models to allay the "wasteland" in…

Studies original and revised essays of 60 university freshmen to determine the effects of attention to audience on improving overall compostion quality. Finds audience attention effective as a revising strategy but more effective as a drafting strategy. (NH)

Notes weaknesses in current writing theory as it fails to deal with the affective domains--emotion, memory, motivation, and value. Recommends that future studies should try to make knowledge of the affective processes clear and useful to teachers and students. (NH)

Indicates a significant difference between trained and nontrained teachers for four instructional practices and for the amount of interaction with other professionals. Shows that the effects of training on students endured for three years for the treatment group at the junior high level. (JD)