Intended to encourage teachers to examine their assumptions about teaching writing, this document containing a mixture of theory and practice deals with many aspects of writing. The chapters discuss (1) an examination of children's writing and some questions arising from the examination; (2) reasons for failure to write well, including the home…

A study examined the role diagnosis plays in the process of revision. Seven student writers and seven expert writers were asked to revise a letter, written from one athletic coach to another discussing why women are reluctant to participate in college sports, for a handout recruiting freshman women. In addition to 26 explicitly "planted…

Noting that the process of writing textbooks has seldom been studied, this paper offers a process-product model that relies on a systems analysis of the textbook universe (or megasystem) to provide insight into the textbook writing process. The model presented discloses the interaction of a number of boundaried but interdependent "peer systems,"…

Stressing the importance of teaching the writing skills students will need in the adult workplace, the conference papers in this booklet present some of the significant research in practical writing and show how this research applies to classroom instruction. Following the introduction, the five essays discuss the following topics: (1) youth,…

A study was conducted to determine whether or not training in teaching writing with a process approach might change teacher attitudes toward language in a direction more consistent with linguists' recognition of the dependence of language on its appropriateness to the writer's purpose. Subjects were 79 writing teachers, elementary through college,…

A study of student perceptions of the goals of composition classes and essential rules for successful academic compositions was conducted as a pilot for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) writing project, which will collect data on instructional practices and other aspects of written composition.…

To determine whether older students make more revisions in their essays, more kinds of revisions, or "bigger" revisions than younger students, a study was made of revisions made by 30 randomly selected seventh grade and 30 randomly selected eleventh grade students. Students were asked to write and revise twice essays in which they described a…

Data collection and analysis procedures adapted from the fields of anthropology, developmental psychology, and linguistics have been instrumental in advancing writing process research. Two such models of study are the embedded case study and the researcher as participant observer. The embedded case study research design embeds small group…

Although many studies have been conducted on the subject of writing, little research on the composing process itself can be found. One early study of significance is Janet Emig's "The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders," which compares school-sponsored writing with self-sponsored writing. Donald Graves, Lucy McCormick Calkins, and Donald…

Offered as a result of suggestions by Maryland teachers, this guide serves as an instructional reference for educators on teaching functional writing at the elementary and secondary school levels. The guide was developed as a supplement to volume one; both volumes provide a comprehensive perspective to writing improvement in Maryland. The first…

Twenty randomly selected subjects in inner city schools at grades 2, 5, 8, and 11 participated in a study that examined whether (1) the number of cohesive units produced in writing will be greater for older students than for younger subjects; (2) the use of cohesive ties in consecutive sentences (a measure of awareness of audience) will increase…

This report contains the results of a study of the writing of college-trained personnel that examined: (1) the importance of their writing abilities in the world of work and in situations other than work, (2) the types of writing done on and off the job and the composing processes used, (3) the media college-trained people use for writing, and (4)…

Using M. A. K. Halliday's and R. Hasan's concept of cohesion, a study examined statistical accounting of cohesive ties as a means of measuring and evaluating text coherence. Twelve grade twelve students were provided outlines on two topics and asked to write essays for each topic. One group of six students was familiar with the topics, the other…

Participant-observer and case study research designs were used during the course of a 17-month-long study that sought (1) to determine the influence of sense of audience on the writing processes of eight adolescent boys and (2) to develop and explore effective research procedures that might provide insights into the writing processes and emphasize…

To determine how college students evaluated their classmates' writing and whether their critiquing was effective, a study examined the critique sheets of 10 students, each of whom responded to two argumentative essays written by their classmates. Results suggested that student readers did not always impose the constraints necessary for providing…