Using a prospective design spanning 17 years, the authors studied in a sample of 231 boys and girls the predictive links of verbal abuse by the teacher during childhood to high-school graduation and behavioral and emotional problems in young adulthood, as well as the putative mediating role of individuals' generalized and domain-specific…

Minority gangs of the 1980s are examined as groups of juveniles and young adults and as a fraction of the forming underclass. Gangs today no longer disappear as their ethnic groups rises socially. Instead, gangs are becoming institutionalized in the central cities. This discussion of prior research in Los Angeles (California) and more recent…

This paper describes the basic features of a collaborative writing exercise used to help 40 English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students write reader-based prose. It presents an actual study that examined the use of collaborative writing to help students draft reader-based prose in intermediate and advanced EFL composition classes at the…

A research project was conducted to examine the interactions between the social networks of young adolescents and their computer usage. Particular attention was focused upon whether computers tend to isolate youthful users. Adult anxiety regarding the damaging effects of computers on children was assessed. Parental involvement, orientation to…

In a freshman composition course, the teacher attempted to motivate student interest in writing by assigning biographical readings and fiction that felt like real life. In reading the books, students found topics for writing about their own lives. During the first class session, students were given the topic "The Story of My Life: A…

This study explored the effects of maternal employment status on 63 adolescent girls in the areas of: (1) academic achievement; (2) satisfaction with family life and with emotional support from peers and adults; (3) mother-child communication; and (4) mothers' and daughters' perception of family adaptability and cohesion. A brief review of the…

Drawing from a review of the literature and a comparative study of evaluation techniques, this paper offers a rationale for the use of performance appraisal as a method of evaluating student writing. The literature review covers: (1) various roles played by composition teachers, including the students' audience of one, writing coach, and Socratic…

Collaborative learning in the English classroom actively involves students in learning many useful applications of writing skills for use in future careers. In the work place, for instance, collaboration takes place regularly and group skills are of major importance. Job-related writing involves many forms of collaboration from the start of a…

In writing instruction, emphasis should be placed on developing a sense of a community, focusing on the social or collaborative view of writing. This view contends that writing is taught best as collaborative learning, with the classroom providing a social context in which students come together to develop their writing skills. In the…

In order to understand why the peer editing groups of freshman collaborative writing classes often fail, an investigation of the collaborative processes of basic and experienced writers was carried out at the University of Missouri (Kansas City). Observation of two freshman composition classes (both containing basic and advanced writers) revealed…

A case study about collaborative learning and collaborative writing examined what was taking place in classroom writing response groups. The study revealed how problematic college writing groups can be good for students. On the basis of observation and interviews with participants in three groups composed of undergraduates at a large state…

The purpose of this study was to compare the mother-child and father-child interaction of six toddlers who were completely home reared with the interactions of six toddlers who were participants in a daily 3-hour playgroup. For the comparisons, both mother-child and father-child interactions were videotaped in a semi-structured laboratory setting.…

This paper reports the first results of a three-year longitudinal study of the social maps of children beginning the transition to adolescence. This exploratory study is guided by Bronfenbrenner's conception of the ecology of human development stressing the importance of a phenomenological orientation to development in the context of ecological…

Data on students participating in six peer-response groups in a college writing workshop revealed the role of student writers in weaving the web of critical response during the peer group discussion. Analysis showed that the student writers engaged in four main types of verbal activity concerning their papers: (1) asking questions about their…

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. The booklet traces the growth of a reluctant writer through a semester of a remedial writing class program, using samples of the student's writing to illustrate…