Annotates 146 books in the areas of writing, language, literature, and teacher education. (MG)

Investigates the impact of task definition on students' revising strategies. Finds that texts written by students who receive instruction on global revision are judged both to be of significantly better quality and include significantly more global revisions than students who were simply asked to make the text better. (MG)

Focuses on writers' strategies in establishing and explaining the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) for the benefit of practitioners and researchers who would later treat and investigate the problem. Uses an analysis of the introductions, patient histories, and discussions in these reports to argue that establishing and explaining AIDS…

Discusses how examination of the assessment criteria in a basic writing program prompted fruitful, continuing program evaluation and change. Reports that the assessment study validated efforts to deemphasize grammar and spelling instruction in basic writing courses. (MM)

Proposes that ethnography is a useful tool for helping teachers understand the cultural context of their students. Examines a high school writing lab, emphasizing the role of the tutor. Describes the experiences of the writing lab staff in learning the culture of adolescents through ethnography. (RS)

Explores the need for technical writing instruction for English majors. Reports that English majors entering M.B.A. programs felt unprepared for technical writing and business communication. Argues that technical writing instruction would broaden preservice English teachers' discourse education and their knowledge of the kinds of writing people do…

Studies the visual markers which students employ in writing descriptive and instructional text. Applies the guidelines approach, design decisions approach, and the information/reader model approach. Reports that beginning technical writing majors used fewer illustrations and visual markers than did technical majors. Suggests that the results may…

Surveys 221 college basic writing instructors concerning the thinking and writing skills they stress and how receptive basic writers are to learning such skills. Notes a dilemma in that teachers emphasize the mechanical skills students say they want, yet students are not receptive to mastering these skills. (RS)

Reviews nine studies in the area of audience awareness and social cognition. Notes that these studies provide an interesting, though extremely incomplete, picture of the relationship between social-cognitive abilities and writing performance. (MG)

Suggests a model of knowing in which theory may emerge from classroom practice. Proposes establishing a network of writing teachers whose mission is to render accounts from the field. Argues that a dialogue between practitioners and theoreticians is long overdue. (RS)

Explores how computer-assisted instruction (the ACCESS program) affected teaching goals and student responses in a freshman composition course. Finds that the quantity of student writing increased dramatically. Suggests that word processing offers new ways to provoke students' thoughts, encourage collaboration, and create a lively and interactive…

Assesses how three basic writers adapted word processing to their writing. Finds that basic writers who were given little guidance in integrating the computer into their composing processes generated little material on the screen and in other ways made far less than full use of the word processor. (RS)

Reports on an investigation of whether or not persuasive writers actually can engineer a match between their stylistic and organizational intentions and their readers' perceptions of those elements of a text. Finds that a consistent writer/reader perceptual match can be achieved. (MS)

Explores developmental students' attitudes toward writing as a reflection of their writing performance. Finds that the skills of students with positive attitudes toward writing improved significantly more than did those of students with neutral or negative attitudes. Includes a student writing attitude questionnaire and a questionnaire analysis…

Analyzes argumentative essays written to both friendly and hostile audiences by high school seniors and college undergraduates. Finds level of intellectual development a more significant predictor of holistic paper scores than demographic variables. (MS)