This article discusses the teaching of English in universities in Eastern Europe and suggests that the emphasis be shifted from oral skills to reading and writing skills. (CFM)

The article traces the origins of environmental communications and focuses on several categories of environmental communication. It specifies the common denominators of the various forms of environmental communications. An appendix of journals that accept freelance environmental articles is included. (RE)

Argues that all instructors, regardless of field, share responsibility for improving students' writing skills. Advocates (1) establishing academic objectives for all students to meet by the end of their college career, (2) requiring essays and papers, rather than objective tests, and (3) requiring effective writing in every course. (DD)

Reports on a study of 60 undergraduates which investigated correlations between style variations (inversion, ornamentation, condensation, poor distribution, and deliberate misleadingness) and such psychological factors as reading ease, mental organization, and recall. (DD)

Reports on certain social and economic indicators that provide a "modestly comprehensive" view of literacy activities, in order to extract an account of the current state and trend of the value and volume of the nation's literacy. Attempts to get a more basic than usual view of literacy, seeing it primarily as an economic activity. (Author/GT)

Because students don't learn if teachers can't teach, the Bay Area Writing Project is getting teachers fired up about writing and the teaching of it. (Editor)

Reviews some of the methods and elements of design used in research concerned with measuring the student's ability in written expression. (Author/RK)

One reliable way to measure student writing ability is to gather and evaluate a series of writing samples or essays over a period of time. The use of multiple-choice tests in combination with essay assignments can be the most educationally sound solution to the administrative problems involved in college course placements. (Editor/LBH)

Criticizes the "Norm Book for English" for its priorities, finding that it slights the content aspect in favor of the language side. It is argued that there should be greater flexibility in the judging of Abitur (high School graduation) essays. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This paper discusses "non-materials" which are defined as useful resources of various kinds which are not specifically intended for use in teaching writing to the ESL (English as a Second Language) student. An annotated bibliography of nineteen such writing texts is included. (CFM)

This study tested the influence of writing self-efficacy, writing apprehension, perceived usefulness of writing, and writing aptitude on 218 fifth graders' essay-writing performance. Students' beliefs about their abilities directly influenced apprehension, perceived usefulness, and performance, and partially mediated the effects of gender and…

In addition to resume and recommendation checks, writing samples, and interviews, editors hired for college/university public relations and publications should be tested for skills in proofreading, copy editing, writing, reporting, story assigning, and story-idea generation. Applicants may be reluctant to take tests; objections can be defused in…

Studies revision skills of grades 5-6 students asked to improve expository text written by other students by giving explicit evaluations, diagnoses, and suggestions. Supplements quantitative data with qualitative analysis of revision activities. Specifies in the model important cognitive steps in revision: compare, diagnose, and operate. Concludes…

Examines phonological transfer in developmental student writing (spelling or word configurations that represent what the writer hears). Examines two discourse features--"by strings" and "topic/comment" sentence structures. Analyzes a developmental writing African American student's essay, demonstrating the power and tension in…