Based on the idea that journal writing can help students discover gaps in their knowledge and explore relationships by allowing them to reflect on what they have learned, a study examined the usefulness of expressive journal writing in a first grade mathematics program. Subjects, members of a first grade classroom involved in a…

To support arguments for an integrative approach to the study of writing, this report summarizes past and current trends in writing research and the resulting implications. The introduction discusses pre-1970s, 1970s, and 1980s research trends, noting that current research focuses on the context in which writing takes place and points out the…

A two-year study designed to evaluate an elementary language arts program in the Grande Prairie School District (Edmonton, Alberta) through an assessment of student achievement was conducted from 1983 to 1985. This final report describes all facets of the study and presents the researchers' findings and conclusions. Following a preface, the report…

To discover how one student learned to produce writing in different academic contexts, a study documented a Loyola College (Maryland) student's experiences with writing for a poetry class and a biology class during his sophomore year. The subject was interviewed several times, observed, and his voice taped during "writing aloud" sessions…

Focusing on the relationship between learning oral language and learning about written language, this book discusses the emergent literacy (EL) of children growing up in a Western, print-oriented society, as well as findings of research conducted during the past 15 years on how children make sense of the way in which literacy works in their…

Prepared by classroom teachers, the papers in this collection synthesize their own teaching experiences with recent writing research revelations. Among the topics covered in the 37 papers are (1) computers in the English classroom, (2) values clarification and the teaching of autobiographical writing, (3) using journals, (4) grammar instruction,…

Although there are many retrospective accounts from teachers and professional writers concerning the effect of computers on their writing, there are few real-time accounts of students struggling to simultaneously develop as writers and cope with computers. To fill this void in "testimonial data," a study examining talking-aloud protocols from a…

Having implications for teachers and students at all stages of primary school, this project report delineates an alternative and more effective approach to the teaching of beginning writing. The report points out that the project, while producing a body of classroom-tested material, focused on awareness about written language and how children…

This book contains 20 articles, from a wide variety of perspectives, designed to bridge the interests of researchers and teachers on the topic of current composition research. The following articles are included: "Studying the Writing Abilities of a University Freshman Class: Strategies from a Case Study" (Charles R. Cooper, with Roger…

Educational research has been meeting resistance in its effort to influence curricular policy or to change classroom practice because of the lack of value placed on it by those who exercise power over and in higher institutions of learning. In order to counteract this resistance it is important to identify those predisposed to effect change in the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The six titles deal with the following topics: (1) the role of adversative connectives in helping good and poor readers to integrate textual information; (2) trends in written products of general writing, basic writing, and basic…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 37 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) composing strategies used by college freshmen; (2) three methods of assessment of writing ability; (3) one child's growth in writing; (4) the relationship…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) basic writers in the community college; (2) the power inclusion model and the politics of voice in the teaching of composition; (3) lay and professional…

Both the literature on adult learning and the literature on the composing process focus on students and their behaviors rather than on teachers and their methods or on curricular content and structure. The most productive teaching of nontraditional students and the most useful educational research about them begins with the students themselves,…

Intended to help educators, especially content area faculty, understand the factors influencing writing and to give specific teaching ideas across the secondary school spectrum, this paper reports a study of current research on writing methods and instructional models to develop a rationale for cross-curricular writing. Following brief discussions…