Microresearch of the type performed by W. Loban and K. Hunt was used to describe two functions of macroresearch methodology--reporting and classifying--of the type conducted by J. Britton. This was done by contrasting the use of nine linguistic features of writing produced by four groups of students in each of the functions. The features were…

Intended for those who are preparing term papers, working on newspapers or newsletters, taking creative writing courses, composing resumes, submitting journal articles for publication, or giving oral presentations, this bibliography lists a number of resources designed to help improve communication skills. The resources are arranged according to…

Developments in college teaching, research, staff development in Australia during the 1980s are addressed in 38 papers from the 1983 conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia. Themes of the papers include: institutional change, staff perceptions of rewards, professional development, students and tertiary…

A naturalistic study investigated writing-related teacher planning and classroom activities in a combined second and third grade classroom and a sixth grade classroom. Data were collected from participant observation, teachers' reflections on classroom writing, and naturally occurring teacher and student writing samples. The study, which was based…

Although theories on developmental writing assume that basic writers do not write well because of cognitive deficits, recent research and classroom experience suggest that poor writers lack skill because they have not had sufficient contextually meaningful practice. Writing research indicates that the unskilled writer's tendency to write as if…

This guide, for junior and senior high school teachers, school board members, community groups, counselors, and administrators, describes the fundamental competencies in English and mathematics expected of a student who begins any baccalaureate degree program. In the Statment on Competencies, fundamental reading, writing and mathematics skills are…

Secondary school teachers can present the process of writing compositions simply and effectively by adopting three tools: the positive approach, the easy three-step analysis process, and the brainstorm outline. Using the positive approach, teachers first convince students that writing effectively is important to them--it gives them the power to…

With use of a carefully planned program of peer evaluation, the teacher can develop students' skills in analysis, evaluation, proofreading, and punctuation. Giving each student a copy of the "Indicator for Rating Performance, Grades 6-12," the teacher explains that the 11 essential parts of any written work are each described and given a specific…

Direct assessment of writing skill, usually considered to be synonymous with assessment by means of writing samples, is reviewed in terms of its history and with respect to evidence of its reliability and validity. Reliability is examined as it is influenced by reader inconsistency, domain sampling, and other sources of error. Validity evidence is…

A study examined (1) developmental differences in the writing of urban students, (2) the syntactic complexity associated with differing modes of written discourse, and (3) the relationship among grade level, mode of discourse, and writing quality. Subjects were approximately 1,200 second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh grade students from large…

The guide provides enrichment suggestions for teaching personal writing skills to gifted and talented intermediate students. The unit is organized according to objectives, entry skills, teacher's approaches, student activities, resources, and followup/evaluation. Topics covered include the following: formal and informal diction; sentences to…

Prepared to accompany an Australian letter writing guide for students, this teachers' guide provides suggestions for integrating letter writing into the school curriculum, either through regularly scheduled activities during the school year, or through special letter writing units of a few weeks. Topics covered in the guide include: (1) the craft…

These guidelines have been developed to assist California State Department of Education staff members in organizing a manuscript so that it is clear, and will require a minimum of rewriting, editing, and keyboarding before it is sent for publication. The intention is to give staff members a better idea of what is expected of them as authors, and…

This paper connects recent research with common student problems in writing research papers and offers an analysis of the range of synthesis tasks and some reasons why students have difficulty with the demands of these tasks. The paper focuses on the student's problem of not knowing how to think about material in ways that allow him or her to say…

The North Carolina Annual Testing Program assessed the writing skills of students in Grade 6 and Grade 8 in the 1989-90 school year. Sixth-grade students were asked to write a clarification composition focusing on a special day and explaining to the reader why the day is special, and eighth-grade students were asked to write a letter to their…