Finds that the group-writing method of instruction helped students to write better, use writing time more efficiently, and gain experience in communicating in the small-group situation. Finds no correlation between grades and student opinions of the quantity of work achieved, type of person who hindered the group the most, and whether the student…

Discusses Gary Tate's career as a teacher of writing and as an administrator and scholar in the field of composition. Includes questions and responses concerning pedagogy, the state of contemporary composition research, composition publishing, and the changing status of the teaching of writing. (HB)

Considers how the problems of writing centers relate to their ethos, or moral character. Advocates a way of constructing an ethos in writing centers which promotes writing response groups rather than just one-on-one peer tutoring. Argues that writing response groups engage writers in valuable ways. (HB)

Suggests that continuity between composition and business/technical communication allows students to move more readily from one course to the next, while clarifying for them that writing is primarily a system of options based on analyses of situations, readers, obstacles, and goals. Explains the value of connections in pedagogy and research…

Questions traditional composition techniques and their effects on student thinking and problem solving. Demonstrates how one high school English teacher responded to these classroom issues by reading relevant research and supplementing it with a study conducted on her own students. (HB)

Presents the results of a questionnaire which asked students to distinguish the most helpful instructional factors and activities aiding their writing progress. Concludes that the student's voice is his/her most accessible tool for progress, that acceptance of the student's voice is crucial, and that the speaking-writing connection is the most…

Summarizes the results of searches of two databases containing abstracts of doctoral dissertations in technical communication. Analyzes those studies, offers suggestions for future research, lists institutions conducting doctoral research, identifies researchers' methods, and summarizes the topics they examine. (SR)

Finds that when children write without any picture, they use a more developed story narrative than when they are given pictures as an initial stimulus. Suggests that it is the content of the picture and the way in which it is presented that affects story structure. (RS)

Shows that organizational metaphors have a significant effect on the way writers think about readers and compose written reports. (SR)

Asserts that behind the issues of reliability and validity and ethnographic storytelling lurk the definitions of ethnography. Discusses ethnography's position in writing research and the author's problems with reconciling ethnographic research with positivistic methods. (PRA)

Offers a brief overview of Gestalt theory. Shows how six Gestalt principles (proximity, closure, symmetry, figure-ground segregation, good continuation, and similarity) can be applied to improve a reader's comprehension of a badly designed instruction module that uses several graphics. (SR)

Discusses how the notion of genre has recently been reconceived by theorists. Questions whether the explicit teaching of genre features and rules enhance the acquisition of such genres by students. Provides tentative responses to this question. Argues for more focused research of this question. (HB)

Responds to Aviva Freedman's article on explicit instruction of genre in the same issue of the journal. Reviews Freedman's argument. Disagrees with Freedman's conclusion that explicit instruction is not useful. Argues that research indicates that explicit instruction of genres can be beneficial to students. (HB)

Responds to two critiques of her own article published in the same issue of the journal. (HB)

Describes the complex meanings of the term "tradition," and relates these meanings to the search for the traditions of composition theory and teaching. Illustrates the constitution and revision of traditions by examining the work of theorists William E. Coles Jr. and David Bartholomae and the reception of their work. (HB)