The article reviews word processing software and software to build keyboarding skills, as used with students needing to improve their mastery of the writing process. Criteria for selection of word processing programs are discussed and specific word processing programs are compared. Instructional suggestions are offered. (DB)

Grade 6-7 learning-disabled students (n=21) and nonlearning-disabled students (n=13) completed the Test of Written Language story subtest, a book report assignment, and an interview concerning reported strategy use. Higher reported strategy use failed to correlate significantly with the quality of the final written products for either group.…

Describes experiences in career exploration in a third grade classroom based on the Foxfire approach to instruction. Students researched careers by writing letters and interviewing real career people. They also set up "junior businesses" in the classroom, which involved designing business cards and purchasing products to sell. Students…

Investigates to what extent children were given opportunities to engage in process writing. Finds a textbook orientation to language instruction, small amounts of time spent in prewriting or writing activities, and a preference for teacher-controlled writing processes. (SR)

Describes and evaluates a project in which dialog journals were exchanged between preservice language arts teachers and first and second graders. Discusses how the dialog journal experience provided prospective teachers the opportunity to engage in writing in a purposeful context where they could examine the literacy skills and interests of their…

Ten Spanish adolescents with profound, prelingual hearing impairments received instruction in organizing their written stories. Instruction emphasized the importance of the narrative structure and the writing process and offered different activities about the narrative text. Some of the students improved the quality of their writing and their…

Presents annotations of nine documents and journal articles from the ERIC database that discuss the theory and rationale for exploiting the connections between reading and writing and ways to stress the connection through the use of integrated reading and writing. (MG)

Presents a case study of poetry writing in a fifth grade classroom. Shows not only how writing and reading come together but also how children come together with each other and with published poets. (RS)

Discusses some historical precedents and current examples of how English educators manifest a particular habit of mind (reducing the general and fluid "writing process" to "The Writing Process"). Considers reasons why people are so attracted to it. Explores the difficulties associated with this habit of mind rather than argue…

Reminds readers of the processes involved in writing and how journalists fit into that model. Discusses how the approaches used by writing teachers have changed. (MG)

Reviews the potential of word processors for changing the ways in which students process written text and think about writing. Three levels of computer-aided writing are considered: simple word processors; computer-aided writing programs; and higher-level computer-aided processing; and improvements in writing quality. (41 references) (LRW)

Interviews with 39 students with learning disabilities (LD, grades 4-8) and 29 normally achieving students revealed that, compared to controls, LD students had less mature conceptualizations of writing and less favorable attitudes toward writing but no differences in evaluations of their competence in either writing or the composing process.…

Describes the context and background of portfolio use in the English and Language Arts classroom. Defines "portfolio" and outlines its essential elements. Describes the environment that is necessary for portfolios to succeed. Outlines how to develop a model for portfolios. Demonstrates the benefits to students of self-evaluation. (PRA)

Reviews the evolution of foreign language teaching methods from the audiovisual methods of the 60s through the notional-functional and communicative approaches of the 70s and 80s. It is recommended that the role of oral language be reviewed and that the value of writing in second language learning be recognized. (JLR)

Examines the effects of mental imagery instruction on 37 gifted fourth and fifth grade students' creative writing and development of imagery vividness. Finds that treatment subjects significantly outperformed control subjects on originality and use of sensory descriptions but not on writing length. (MG)