A review of the literature on the effects upon student writing performance of variations in essay examination topics reveals that such research is sparce and that most of it has been done in the past 5 years. The review, which was conducted as part of a project to develop the writing test portion of the Florida Teacher Certification Examination,…

The technique of inviting children to discuss their writing and examining closely the nature of their comments can help to identify facets of the writing process upon which to base pedagogy. An analysis of the writing process of one sixth grade female student in an Edmonton, Canada, public school revealed the use of 38 communication units (labels…

Concentrates on reviewing literature on the use of computers to assist the composing process and the teaching of composing in the writing center. Deals with the following categories of software: (1) general, (2) prewriting, (3) organizing, (4) drafting, (5) revising, and (6) proofreading/copy editing. (SKC)

Describes how the Writing Lab at Hazelwood West High School, in Missouri, was designed and initiated. Reveals that computers are used there: (1) in teaching whole classes, (2) with individual students, (3) to teach skills, and (4) for keeping records. (SKC)

Investigates the writing processes of nonstandard dialect, basic writers through the case study of an eleventh grade minority student. Offers teaching methods which utilize the strengths and address the underlying problems of nonstandard dialect students. (MM)

Discusses the importance of dialogue in learning, notes that it is lacking in many educational situations, and recommends the use of written dialogue journals as a means of communication between teachers and individual students. Points out the advantages of dialogue journals for improving writing for different social purposes. (SKC)

Investigates the thinking processes students employ and the text structures they produce in analytic writing. Contrasts eleventh grade students' analytic and summary writing using think-aloud protocols and examination of genre conventions governing students' writing. Concludes that in analytic writing, students employed more varied and complex…

Investigates the relationship between topic-specific background knowledge and measures of overall quality, coherence, syntactic complexity, audience, and function in the expository writing of tenth grade students. (HOD)

This collection of essays exemplifies the universal theme that competence in language is key to success in learning and in life. The research studies reported in the collection offer insights into the challenges of literacy learning in Asia: social, cultural, and linguistic factors that sometimes constrain the teacher's approach to instruction.…

Based on an ethnographic study in an urban classroom of 7- to 9-year olds, this book examines how young school children use popular culture, especially superhero stories, in the unofficial peer social world and in the official school literary curriculum. In one sense, the book is about children "writing superheroes"--about children…

Learning to write is difficult, especially for those beginning the process at the university level, such as dialect speakers of English and speakers of English as a Second Language. Recent pedagogical experimentation with external dialogues involving instructors and peers to provoke critical thinking have not been very successful. One explanation…

Describes the responses of white, affluent, ethnically-encapsulated first graders to four books that featured African-Americans as the central characters. Finds that students' responses showed a sensitivity for the feelings and actions of people they seldom interact with or even think about. Notes that the students frequently addressed issues of…

Describes an action research project which began by asking how English teachers could improve the writing of their African American students, and gradually came to ask how the teachers' own cultural assumptions might be blocking their teaching relationships. Identifies and discusses eight principles of their approach, and discusses changes in…

Describes a writing program that addresses adult students' limited access to computers and the program's effect on a pilot group of students. Offers some preliminary conclusions about the effects of computer availability on teaching methodology. (MS)

Discusses how discourses construct teaching, by examining "the Literacy Letters," a correspondence between pairs of middle-class teachers and working-class women enrolled in an adult basic education course. Challenges the ideology that class, race, and gender differences, while present in American society, are absent from American…