Notes that joint composition at the computer is common in United Kingdom primary schools. Finds that even children as young as seven years can jointly plan a story at the computer. Uses examples of pupils' discourse while composing to illustrate the processes by which they produced written text. (RS)

Notes that online writing environments can lead basic writers to focus on the instrumental nature of language and technology, construe writing as performance, and see revision as error correction. Explores computer use as an aid in the process of composition in a one-credit computer lab course. Finds that basic writers face significant…

Studies the life story and perceptions of literacy of a highly literate Latina female college student who developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Finds that the woman's ability to write had been the foundation on which her social meanings of literacy rested: her life story revealed how her identity was influenced by societal values for writing and…

Presents research that demonstrates how local institutional practices can preclude benefits of portfolio evaluation. Finds that communal portfolio assessment shifts the primary site of authority negotiation for new composition teachers (teaching assistants) from their relationships with students to their relationships with their more experienced…

Examines first graders' demonstrations of audience awareness in the context of Family Message Journal writing (in which children write a message to their families and receive written replies). Finds that the first graders demonstrated a sense of audience when writing for family readers, to get something they want, when prompted by their teacher to…

Argues that careful assignment scaffolding combined with substantial training and ample opportunities for peer collaboration can make response groups a highly successful classroom practice. Describes what happened when some inexperienced students participated in peer response groups. Describes revisions that students made in their writing. (TB)

Reviews research about the uses readers and writers make of text structure schemata and, additionally, about what reading-writing relationship research and collaborative learning research suggest for designing instruction to build schemata for text structure. Describes one in-process research study that attempts to address these issues. (SR)

Investigates a gender-related issue raised by a 1990 study of 40 11th-grade writing students. Discusses what problems are posed by and what possible solutions there are to the tendency in young women writers--more pronounced than in their male counterparts--to please the teacher and meet his or her rhetorical expectations at the expense of…

Discusses demands users face when searching for information in online libraries of product documentation. Demonstrates how physical libraries provide a helpful metaphor for design. Offers heuristics and a conceptual prototype for facilitating electronic document retrieval. Argues that the search form itself should communicate the way materials are…

Examines the restructuring of first-year composition at Iowa State University. Discusses the exodus of tenure-track faculty from first-year composition in the late 1970's and early 1980's; why upper administration is now mandating tenure-track faculty's return; why the department of English is cooperating; and potential risks in cooperating or not…

Finds that 10 students with experience tutoring at the Writing Center felt that this experience improved their classroom teaching, helping them understand the practical implications of student-centered theory and making them more committed to practicing it in the classroom. Offers two case studies showing how one-to-one teaching in the Writing…

Compares and critiques two models of invented spelling stages, arguing that knowledge of stages of invented spelling can lead to better assessment of children and more informed literacy instruction by offering a window into the learner's mind. Notes that good communication with parents about invented spelling can eliminate much of the controversy.…

Draws on a longitudinal study of urban adolescents' literacy practices. Argues for a focus on students' writing practices both in and out of school to develop a comprehensive understanding of their capacities in the classroom. Suggests the importance of looking outside the physical space of schools and beyond the time that students are in…

Surveys parents to discover their perceptions of spelling and spelling instruction. Notes parents see spelling as critically important, want time in school devoted to spelling instruction, want to see a grade in spelling on students' report cards, and see reading and writing as the primary ways in which children learn to spell. Describes effects…

Finds that a participatory literacy learning circle employing process-based writing activities significantly improved both writing skills and self esteem of a group of women at a residential treatment center who had received court sentences for drug sales or alcohol abuse. (SR)