The paper describes four major patterns that emerge in studies of college student intellectual development. Quotations from students' writing about their epistemological beliefs and quotations from professors' writing concerning their courses and students are related to the four patterns. Characteristics of student writing associated with each…

Students' essays are increasingly being included in the assessment of their writing ability. One scholar feels that in contrast to more traditional tests of writing ability, the Written Language Assessment bases its assessment on whole pieces of text the students write. The essays represent three different types of writing: expressive,…

A study evaluated the effectiveness of an Instructional Television Program (ITV) designed to model and teach aspects of process writing to second-grade children. Two second-grade teachers and their students (each class contained 24 children) comprised the experimental groups; one second-grade teacher and 24 students comprised the control group.…

Intended as a guide for elementary school teachers who want to use the computer as a writing tool in their classrooms, this booklet offers an outline of practical information and techniques for introducing young children to computers in kindergarten through grade 6. The first chapter explains the process approach to writing and advocates computer…

Outcome data are presented for students who participated in the 1985-1986 College Discovery and Development (CDD) program, which is affiliated with the City University of New York, and provides basic skills instruction in reading, writing, and/or mathematics. Information is included on the participants rate; reading, writing, and mathematics test…

Intended for teachers and parents, this book focuses on demolishing widely held myths about poor spellers and about the process of spelling. "Dear Professor Henderson" (chapter 1) is a dedication to a favorite college professor who remonstrated with the author about his "lazy" spelling. "Kneeling on Rice" (chapter 2)…

The summer 1986 High School Preparation for Raising Educational Performance (PREP) program (in its third year of operation at 25 New York City high schools) included for the second year an English as a second language (ESL) component. Designed to help students who had recently immigrated develop the English language listening, speaking, reading,…

Designed for elementary school teachers, this publication treats various aspects of publishing young student-authors' writing. Activities are as follows: (1) proofreading (children should proofread first by themselves); (2) pagination (let children decide how to break up the text); (3) placement of text (on alternate pages, for example, or perhaps…

A study examined the correlations and predictive relationships between reading and language achievement test scores and North Carolina Annual Writing Assessment scores. Subjects, over 1,000 sixth and ninth grade students, were administered both the North Carolina Annual Writing Assessment and the California Achievement Test (CAT) in 1984 and 1985.…

This proficiency exam for ninth-year French is comprised of a composition test and a reading comprehension test. The composition test consists of general instructions, the description of a subject about which the student is to write a narrative, and space for organizing, drafting, and writing a final copy of the composition. The reading…

A history of the Test of Written English (TWE), a section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), describes its inception and development process. The new test is a thirty-minute essay test providing a measure of a non-native English-speaker's ability to perform academic writing tasks similar to those required of international…

Noting that young children's initial writing efforts are often dismissed as insignificant scribbling, a study explored children's emerging understandings about written language as indicated by the changes in 47 preschool children's autographs. Throughout a school year children were asked to write their names and draw pictures of themselves.…

A study examined the differences and similarities in the relationship between the organization of written English produced by native Chinese, English, and Spanish speaking adult college students when they wrote in the narrative and expository modes. Specifically, the study explored the kinds of cohesive devices that operated in the English text…

A study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) to examine the separate and combined effects of entering basic skills levels and curriculum-related variables (i.e., grades in required English and math courses, the length of time between the course and the test, and the number of credits in developmental courses) in predicting student…

The eight articles in this focused journal issue are concerned with integrating reading, writing, and thinking, with varying attention to other language processes such as listening and speaking. The titles and authors of the articles are (1) "Does What You Read Influence How You Write?" by Dennis Adams; (2) "Dictation: Building…