It is viable to argue that literacy can be construed as a set of culturally-based discursive practices rather than as merely a set of cognitive skills. This idea has special relevance for students with learning disabilities, who often struggle with more traditional, individually-based curricular approaches. This study explored the ways in which an…

Reports the results of a questionnaire on student attitudes toward being referred to a writing lab and recommends that writing instructors be more sensitive to concerns of those students. (AEA)

Contrasts, through portraits of five young writers, the writing strategies of children used at home and in a kindergarten writing center that stressed a formal language arts program. Argues that the teacher's approach to writing instruction and the child's writing strategies must be compatible to ensure independent writers. (HTH)

Reports of research on using different patterns for connecting sentences. Shows the importance of applying insights from text linguistics to writing instruction. (RL)

Richard F. Thompson and Michael G. Southwell separately discuss William J. McCleary's article on reliability and validity problems in composition research (see EJ 210 755); Chris Madigan questions the data on composing processes of freshman writers reported by Sharon Pianko (see EJ 204 419); and C. T. Patrick Diamond examines the issue of the…

Summarizes secondary school students' opinions on the amount of writing they do in school, how they do it, and how it is evaluated. Concludes that the teachers of these students do not neglect writing in their classes. (JT)

Examines how three English-speaking advisers and their non-native English-speaking doctoral students used citations and related writing techniques to make new knowledge claims in science dissertation writing. Finds that academic advisers play an important role in helping the students, and finds no negative influence from the students' native…

Reports on a study that sought to describe and better understand the idea of three high school teachers as writers. Describes the potentials and problems of the idea in practice. Examines how writing teachers' own writing experiences shape their approaches in the classroom. (TB)

Examines how teachers adapt writing instruction to a microcomputer classroom. Calls attention to time pressures, issues in training students in word processing and revising, ways a microcomputer classroom can foster workshop approaches, the need for carefully structured classroom activities, and the importance of teachers and students sharing…

Examines internal and external factors which affect the way women reentering higher education learn and write. Finds several constant internal factors: sense of inferiority among peers; inability to concentrate; sense of guilt; feeling out of place among younger students; fatigue; and doubt. Finds that positive internal factors outweigh negative…

Reports on a national survey examining the current institutional situation of "advanced composition" courses. Finds (1) doubt about the institutional future of such courses; (2) a wide variety of course content and points of focus; (3) theoretical divisions among teachers of such courses; and (4) positive perceptions of the relationship…

Identifies student misunderstanding of teacher criticism and a lack of context for that criticism as problems in composition classes. Describes how an instructor provided taped comments on student papers to make criticisms clearer to students. Details how the procedure was used in guiding one student's successive drafts. (SG)

Describes a college instructor's observations of her students' writing blocks. Suggests that female students' writing blocks differ from males'. Asserts that females' blocks last longer and cause greater distress than do males' writing blocks. Notes that female students also appear to experience difficulty in utilizing secondary sources and…

Contrasts a recent collection of "best" student essays with a report reviewing a 1929 test in English that was used for making college admissions decisions. Concludes that writing teachers have been as much or more interested in who they want their students to be as in what they want their students to write. (RS)

Studies the effects of word processing on the composing processes of six basic writers. Concludes that quantity and quality of revisions are not likely to increase, that word processing initially causes many interventions in composing, and that better writers are more likely to use word processing programs in advantageous ways. (RS)