Presents 4 experiments to examine the mechanism behind choice of script type in Japanese writing. Suggests that there are no implicit relationships between semantic images of script types and personal names in Japanese writing. Hypothesizes two tentative cognitive models to explain how Japanese people select a particular type of script from three…

Provides summary observations on articles presented in this special issue of the journal and makes an appeal for connecting work in second language writing to broader intellectual strands, domains, and dimensions of modern thought and contemporary lived experience. (Author/VWL)

Identifies causal relationships between the development of phonological abilities and progress in knowledge about writing in 90 middle-class Portuguese preschool children. Discusses how two experimental intervention programs proved equivalent in terms of the conceptual evolution they triggered, to the extent that the children in both experimental…

Analyses several hundred essays written by an equal number of male and female college students in response to two separate prompts on a writing proficiency test. Finds partial support for the hypotheses that men focus on an individual's autonomy and women on relationships. Finds, however, that themes of autonomy are overall the most common themes.…

Offers a review of research on remedial/developmental writers, focusing on studies related to revising strategies, the development of writing abilities, spoken language, rhetorical context, semantic abbreviation in writing, composing processes, writer's block, and thought and language. (DMM)

Argues that the meetings of the National Council of Teachers of English and the Conference on College Composition and Communication should focus on improving the literacy skills of students rather than promulgating superficial results of poorly conducted research. (RS)

Outlines a set of terms which can be used (in sequencing writing assignments from simple to complex) to make distinctions between kinds of sequences and notions of complexity. Shows how these terms allow teachers to understand the logic of various sequences, compare and contrast related sequences, and evaluate the concept of assignment sequence.…

Describes a 1988 article entitled "Composing as a Woman" as an attempt to reconcile feminist inquiry and composition studies and to persuade composition specialists that the feminist view has a bearing on their field. Explains that a study of the relationship between gender and reading produced a new perspective on student papers. (SG)

Assesses the compatibility of computer conferencing with collaborative learning. Finds that computer conferencing is another form of computer technology well-suited for the teaching of writing as a socially constituted process. Finds that computer conferencing integrates school life with life outside the school. (RS)

Notes discrepancies between findings from textual studies and classroom practices and textbooks. Reviews research on cohesion and writing development. Argues that teachers must critically examine writing research and apply it in the classroom. (JAD/RAE)

Argues that standardized tests can provide limited guidance, in conjunction with student writing samples, in the decision whether students should be exempted from freshmen writing courses. Suggests that students who write well but whose performance is unstable can be affected, positively or negatively, by exemption results. Suggests that students'…

Describes a series of studies of both student and professional writers. Concludes that writers' emotions change discernibly when they compose. Finds intensified positive emotions (such as excitement and happiness), weakened negative-passive emotions (shame and boredom), and less variable negative-active emotions (including fear and anger). (SG)

Examines the processes an engineer goes through as he/she writes a routine and a non-routine document--processes that are strongly affected by the degree to which his/her company has previously accepted the claims he/she makes as given or as knowledge. Discusses the collaborative nature of work in an organization. (MS)

Argues that an integrated vision of the composition process is needed to explain how context cues cognition, which in turn mediates and interprets the particular world that context provides. Explores some ways that observational research might be used to create a well-supported, theoretical understanding of the composition process. (RS)

Recounts the history of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) and explores the purpose for CCCC's existence. (RAE)