Reports the results of research conducted with Grade 5 French-immersion students to determine whether peer comments made during writing conferences were integrated into the writer's final draft, and, if so, how these comments improved the quality of writing. (Author/VWL)

Examines the linguistic complexity and functional variety of the speech and writing of 2 bilingual children in year 2 of a British infant school. Focuses on the contexts of language use and shows the children making causal connections between separate episodes of the observation phase, considered proof of learning. (JPB)

Examined differences between native and nonnative English-as-a-foreign-language teachers' rating of the English writing of Chinese university students. Explored whether two groups of teachers--expatriates who typically speak English as their first language and ethnic Chinese with proficiency in English--gave similar scores to the same writing task…

Evaluates the International Baccalaureate (IB), a preuniversity, post-16, 2-year diploma. The IB contains four language features: communication and interaction, responsibility and transparency, language skills and contents related to the aims, and integration of program and assessment. The program compares favorably at higher levels with…

Study analyzed the writing assignments of two secondary preservice teachers involved in a university teacher education practicum designed to promote reflective thinking. Found that written assignments were more useful in making participants' cognitive processes explicit than in their actively constructing knowledge about teaching and learning.…

Reports on how language and gender issues have been integrated into the discussion of letter writing, speech making and writing, and the long essay in an advanced English composition course at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The teaching was done with the main goal of enhancing students' writing skills, while also making them…

Examines the effectiveness of two writing-to-learn formats in helping developmental students master biological information and in decreasing writing anxiety. Objective measures showed a small but significant decrease in writing anxiety over the quarter, unrelated to writing format. Writing format also had little effect on content knowledge, based…

Describes an exploratory study that investigated the effects of explicit instruction in revision on learners' performance and perceptions about writing. Learners were from a secondary school in Hong Kong. Indicates that explicit teaching of revision strategies has a measurable influence on writing performance. (Author/VWL)

Attempts to clarify relationship between metacognition and English-as-a-Second-Language writing performance by posing the following questions: (1) Does each component of the metacognitive model--personal, task, and strategy--have an equivalent effect upon writing performance of ESL students?; (2) Do these three components impact performance…

Scientific and technical jargon--specialized vocabulary, usually Latinate--plays a vital role in scientific and technical communication. But its proper use continues to be a point of discussion because of our concern with audience adaptation, rhetorical exigence, rhetorical purpose, and ethics. We've focused on teaching students--and on convincing…

The purpose of this review was to report on the effectiveness and focus of academic self-management interventions for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders. Twenty-two studies published in 20 articles and involving 78 participants met inclusionary criteria. The overall mean effect size (ES) across those studies was 1.80…

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of word prediction software to increase typing speed and decrease spelling errors for students who have physical disabilities that affect hand use. Student perceptions regarding the effectiveness of word prediction was examined as well as their typing rates and spelling accuracy. Four students with…

Three studies evaluated Tier 1 early intervention for handwriting at a critical period for literacy development in first grade and one study evaluated Tier 2 early intervention in the critical period between third and fourth grades for composing on high stakes tests. The results contribute to knowledge of research-supported handwriting and…

This study provides a developmental perspective on achievement goal orientations in writing using data obtained from 1266 students ranging in age from 9 to 17. The strength of task goal orientation decreased from elementary school to middle school and then increased in high school; performance-approach goals decreased from elementary school to…

The aim of this study was to show how general models of text production can account for argumentative text planning. It focuses in particular on retrieval process in 11- to 18-year-old children. Various experimental situations were designed to promote different ways of retrieving ideas from long-term memory. Essays written by students were…