Intended for writing teachers, from middle-elementary level through college, this booklet describes a teaching method that lets students write their own way into ideas, merging personal experience with intellectual thought in expository writing. The booklet first describes in greater detail the concept of writing to think as focused free…

Intended to aid any teacher at any level to assist students who are having major difficulties with writing experiences, this handbook presents basic writing skills that students should be able to perform upon graduation from high school. The handbook begins with a definition of writing and a word about the North Carolina competency testing…

Researchers and teachers are beginning to realize that reading and writing are closely linked. Language experience is the key to success in reading and writing. Teachers must enrich students' language experiences by reading to them, talking with them, fostering an environment that recognizes their worth as language users, and modeling expected…

To explore the role of one specific revision strategy--reading and rereading pieces of text--in the composing process, case studies were made of two college freshman writers: Jim, who was highly apprehensive about the process of composing, and David, who was not at all apprehensive about writing. Specifically, videotapes of the students' composing…

Examining the cognitive processes of reading-to-write as they are embedded in the social context of a college course, this introduction to and overview of the 11-part Reading-to-Write Project study focuses on the study as a whole by sketching the reading-to-write task as one of practical importance, as a window on how students integrate reading…

A study explored students' dynamic use of various forms of reading and writing to learn. In investigating the relationship between learner initiative, literacy, and the ability to conduct a critical inquiry of a topic of study, seven college undergraduates were asked to direct their own reading and writing engagements enroute to composing a…

A study investigated the effect or lack of effect of peer collaboration on the writing of female freshman composition students. Four freshman composition classes conducted by two experienced instructors participated in a 3-week study. One instructor taught two classes by teacher-lecture and teacher-led discussions exclusively. Another instructor…

This book documents and explores the range of strategies that a competent group of language users (17 students in a graduate course) employed when responding to a range of reading and writing tasks over a semester's time in a naturalistic instructional setting. The book is divided into the following six chapters: (1) "The Nature of…

This book examines the ways that writing is taught in this age of technology. The book begins with writing about "tools" (technical writing), considers writing itself as a tool, and concludes with tools that aid writing. The aim is to study the interpenetration of writing and technology in order to determine how technology has affected…

Intended to serve as an introduction to a useful method of composition evaluation, this handbook provides a comprehensive checklist of many relevant topics and issues. The handbook begins with a discussion of the basic concepts of evaluation. The next chapter provides an overview of the components of a writing program as a background and context…

Focusing on language development--from beginning speech to literacy--with particular attention paid to growth in writing, this paper identifies and describes: (1) links between speech and writing; and (2) features of children's written and spoken texts that indicate growth. The process of constructing "texts" is presented as the fabric…

Personal observations as a writing instructor, combined with the findings of many experts, point to the fact that all children need to learn and internalize a "writing process" in order to master composition on an adequate level. Learning disabled children, who may possess several processing difficulties, have severe deficits to overcome…

As an interesting development in recent literary criticism, reader response can enhance a composition class in many ways. Reader response, by incorporating both intellect and feeling into an aesthetic reaction to literature, restores the subjective aspect that some forms of criticism deny. Three main elements compose the repeated cycle of a…

The first of a planned series of papers, this document describes in detail a context for writing created by a teacher and her second grade class. Section one includes the teacher's diary of plans for using an imaginary doll, "Mr. Togs the Tailor" as a context for learning during most of a term and selected children's writing on such topics as Mr.…

Most of the 24 books reviewed in this annotated bibliography concern writing and are recent publications (1980-1985). Titles and authors are as follows: "Teacher" (Sylvia Ashton-Warner); "What Did I Write? Beginning Writing Behavior" (Marie M. Clay); "Composing: Writing as a Self-Creating Process" (William E. Coles);…