Paragraphs, as well as sentences, can be spoken of as having a deep and a surface structure. The amount of deep structure of the paragraph that is mapped onto the surface paragraph is related to the mode of discourse in which the paragraph is found: the deep structure in scientific paragraphs is relatively uncomplicated with few assumptions made;…

Data for a study of the composition process consisted of student compositions written in response to four stimulus tasks (compositions written within unstructured, topical/Aristotelian, dramatic situation, and behavioral models), and students' introspective comments made in response to questionnaires, during taped discussions, and in individual…

The Albion (New York) school district provides this guide to written composition instruction in its kindergarten through grade 12 curriculum because of the importance and necessity of writing, not only as a school activity but also as a lifelong intellectual, self-actualizing, and daily-living activity. Following a brief overview that summarizes…

The 80 loan officers in a commercial banking division provided data about their writing on the job. The data were collected during interviews and with a questionnaire. The executives reported no specific training for the writing they did. The bank did not offer any guidelines or training courses for performing job-related writing tasks, assuming…

This paper shows how to integrate reading comprehension instruction and writing instruction through the use of sentence combining--the act of combining several short sentences that have been derived by transformational analysis from longer ones. Suggestions are offered to guide teachers through the necessary steps for designing appropriate…

Modeling the process of communication through fictive constructions of audience is as much a part of teaching writing as is imparting rules for grammar and organization. A historical review of rhetorical theory and the goals of writing instruction delineates the shift away from traditional, fuzzy conceptions of audience to more carefully…

A journal-based college composition program has been developed that links journal writing to the development of competence in more formal writing. Students write both free choice and assigned entries, and their entries become the basis of all the themes they write; in-class assignments focus on the improvement of specific aspects of the journal…

This text is the first of a series of four units concerning language skills for Spanish speakers of limited English-speaking ability in grades 6-9. The text includes a variety of learning experiences designed to develop competence in the student's cognitive and affective skills derived from the following basic areas: listening, speaking, reading,…

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. Methods are illustrated for teaching students to recognize dishonest language and to write honestly themselves and include cliche/euphemism avoidance techniques,…

A METHOD OF TEACHING READING IN THE PRIMARY GRADES IS PRESENTED. SKILLS OF LISTENING, SPEAKING, WRITING, AND READING ARE INCLUDED. THE LANGUAGE AND THINKING OF THE INDIVIDUAL CHILD, BASED UPON HIS OWN EXPERIENCE, IS THE BASIS FOR ALL SKILL DEVELOPMENT. THE PATTERN OF INSTRUCTION COMPRISES THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE, ALTHOUGH STRICT ADHERENCE TO THIS…

AN INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING LANGUAGE MATURITY SHOULD BE EASILY ADMINISTRABLE AND SCOREABLE AND SHOULD BE BASED ON VALID INDICES OF LANGUAGE MATURITY. A RECENT STUDY BY KELLOG W. HUNT SUGGESTED THAT THESE INDICES BE BASED ON A NEW SYNTACTIC UNIT, THE T-UNIT, CONSISTING OF 1 MAIN CLAUSE TOGETHER WITH ANY CLAUSES SUBORDINATED TO IT. COORDINATED MAIN…

Because the Texas Department of Human Resources (DHR) was demanding writing competency from its employees, and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) had a supply of competent writers in the form of undergraduate and graduate English majors, UTSA established a writing laboratory at the DHR. A three-credit course was developed to briefly…

Data presented in this report are the results of the special assessment of writing mechanics conducted during the 1978-79 school year by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). The purposes of the study were (1) to examine writing abilities of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students enrolled…

This study investigates the relationship between college students' learning of grammar and mechanics and their ability to compose. A random sample of students enrolled in the University of New Mexico's freshman English program was tested during three semesters. Several questions were addressed: Were the courses doing what they purported to do?…

The learning module described is designed to help teachers and secondary school students who wish to improve their practical writing skills. Included in this descriptive report is an outline of the scope and sequencing of topics in the module and the activities and resources involved in its use. Also included are a critique of the module and…