Describes three basic variations on the process approach to teaching writing witnessed while observing over 300 secondary English teachers: the "classic" process approach, the "antigrammarian" approach, and the "five paragraph" approach. Argues that the idea of error must be allowed back into the classroom, and that lockstep allegiance to a set of…

Examined whether negotiated help provided within the learners' zone of proximal development (ZPD) is more effective than help provided randomly and irrespective of the learners' ZPD. Data were collected during tutorial sessions on writing English compositions by two Korean learners of English. Findings provide support for a consciousness raising…

Reports on a study of grammar checker usage that surveys the steps taken to successfully integrate it into the curriculum of an advanced level French course. Identifies the pedagogical limits of computer-based grammar checking, explores practical applications, measures short- and long-term effectiveness, and considers the role of self monitoring…

Suggests and illustrates three areas for investigation: effects of error on teachers' processing of student writing; relationship between error and teacher's construction of the writer's persona; and the relationship between the changing status of socially constructed norms of language use and response to error. Advocates greater focus on…

Investigates three growing areas in language teaching: induction, the use of concordances, and self-correction. For a class of Thai university students, lexical items causing writing errors were identified. Students made concordances of the lexical items from the Internet and than induced patters from the concordance to apply in self correction of…

Examines whether artificially manipulating specific typographical conditions in which text is proofread promotes better initial recognition of deviant spelling. Involved 60 Spanish native speakers enrolled in an undergraduate writing class, all of whom had been previously designated as underachieving. (Author/VWL)

Investigated university English-as-a-Second-Language students abilities to self-edit texts across three feedback conditions: errors marked with codes from different categories; errors in the same five categories underlined but not otherwise marked or labeled; no feedback. Both feedback groups outperformed the no-feedback group in self-editing;…

Focuses on error correction strategies employed by learners of Japanese when revising their written work. Investigates the effectiveness of the coding system employed by a university entrance assessment in Australia; types of code symbols that lead to successful self-correction; strategies used for self-correction; and successful and unsuccessful…

Describes theoretical and practical considerations related to the provision of feedback in the written compositions of advanced foreign language learners of French. Discusses the approach taken to teaching and assessing writing skills of students and considers how using a computer-based composition annotation program can contribute to reduction of…

Over the past five years, the No Child Left Behind Act, with its mandates for collecting and documenting student achievement statistics, has fueled a surge in the volume of data collected by schools, districts, and state education departments. This information explosion has gone hand in hand with technology's growing affordability and…

This article examines whether an analysis of student answers to a standards-based, summative examination can be used to improve a teacher's instruction. The author, who is a chemistry teacher at Saratoga Springs High School, analyzed both the multiple-choice and the constructed response questions of the June 2003 New York State chemistry exam…

Institutional researchers frequently use national datasets such as those provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The authors of this chapter explore the adjustments required when analyzing NCES data collected using complex sample designs. (Contains 8 tables.)

Because surveys now can be implemented with relative ease and little cost, many researchers are overlooking the basic principles of survey research. This chapter discusses sources of error that researchers should consider when conducting a survey, and gives readers basic suggestions for reducing error. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This article extends Simpson's (2003) research on sex differences in social dilemmas. To test the hypotheses that men defect in response to greed and women to fear, Simpson created Fear and Greed Dilemmas, but experiments using these games supported the greed hypothesis only. In this article I focus on why the fear hypothesis failed and suggest…

Although a number of studies have associated recasts with second language development, the actual mechanisms by which recasts work to impact learning are still little understood. In particular, researchers have sought to gain a deeper understanding of the connections among recasts, learners' responses to recasts, and subsequent development. To…