Describes the expressive writing of Japanese elementary school children, citing examples designed to encourage American language arts teachers to use their responses to students' writing to bolster children's attempts to become actively and personally engaged in their writing. (HTH)

Examines four approaches to evaluating writing, and notes the strengths and weaknesses of each. (RL)

An unofficial study is recounted in which professional journals from various disciplines were examined to see whether writing styles were appreciably different from one another. An appendix with excerpts from some of the journals, with varying degrees of coherence is included. (HTH)

Describes a way to give word-processed feedback on business communication assignments. Describes some advantages of this mode over both handwritten and audio comments, and identifies limitations of this method. (SR)

Contains two articles on writing instruction: the first shows how the prospect of student publishing inspires students to try new forms of writing; the second explains a marking system that encourages students to see the importance of the content in their writing. (TB)

This column examines issues associated with measuring assistive technology outcomes in writing. Following an introduction to assistive technology and writing, it looks specifically at design, measurement, analysis, and decision making factors in the process of creating an outcomes system for measuring the impact of assistive technology on writing.…

Discusses Authentic Intellectual Achievement (AIA) in Writing, which can be defined by construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, and value beyond school. Addresses translating AIA into criteria for language arts; connecting to students' lives; applying AIA; and thinking about AIA in classroom practice. (SG)

Considers what the best assessment practices are for ESL (English as a Second Language) and international students at two- and four-year institutions in the United States. Presents results of an Internet search of one set of prominent American institutions' placement practices. Argues that second language composition specialists need to examine…

Examines the writings of an engineer employed by a large manufacturing firm. Argues that the engineer's writing, although not the final product, is the essential means by which the product is created. Suggests that, because a report reflects final, agreed-upon knowledge about a product, the product and the document become one in the engineer's…

Makes observations about how professional poets compose. Argues for the use of primary trait scoring and an interactive teaching method to guide students through revision while treating each poem as a unique piece of writing. Demonstrates how primary trait scoring and individual conferences assisted a student in revising his poems. (RS)

Examined the concurrent validity of holistic scores by comparing four teachers' holistic scores with their analytic ratings of writing samples from four eighth graders. After training in the evaluation procedures, holistic scores were highly correlated with analytic scores for the same samples. (RJC)

Discusses how to assess student poetry, focusing on the qualities of internal logic, tone, music words, figurative language, stanzas, line length, space, detail, voice, and "life." (MM)

Reviews "Written Language Assessment" (WLA), a new standardized test to evaluate children's and adolescents' written language competence by having students write essays instead of answer multiple choice questions. Finds problems with the WLA in terms of interrater reliability. (RS)

Describes a procedure for keeping a running commentary on student writing. Claims cumulative comment sheets allow the teacher to get to know students more quickly, to recognize recurring error patterns, and to include genuine compliments, and help both student and teacher keep track of the student's progress. (SR)

The goal of PQP (Praise/Question/Polish) is to have students read each others' drafts for content and make suggestions that the writer may accept or reject. The writers ask evaluators what they like about the work, what questions they have, and what kinds of polish they think it needs. (JOW)