The writing test at Colorado State University determines which students move from basic composition into the college composition course. Initially, all incoming students take a placement test similar to the holistically scored writing tests administered by the Educational Testing Service. This placement test, along with other information, provides…

Written language skills are an important goal within programs of language development for students with mental disabilities. Specific facets should be considered in the teaching of writing, such as drawing on previous linguistic experiences, viewing writing as both process and product, emphasizing writing as a form of communication, tying writing…

To document the writing practices, opinions, and perceptions of a particular segment of professionals in the work force, a study surveyed Department of Defense middle managers working for the United States Air Force. Self-report questionnaires were completed by 234 middle managers who had completed a one-week formal in-house writing program, and…

Fifty fifth and sixth grade students participated in a study attempting to document motivational differences that may be associated with two approaches to classroom writing instruction. Thirty of the students were involved in the process-oriented approach where students are encouraged to write multiple drafts of assignments, attending to issues of…

This case study examines the process of learning to read and write in a first-grade boy for whom difficulties in literacy acquisition were predicted from a battery of tests commonly used to identify learning disabilities (LD). Data included: (1) test scores from the school psychologist, speech therapist, audiologist, and from standardized school…

A middle school classroom teacher and a college instructor describe an activity in which 14 students in a sixth-grade special education class corresponded with college students enrolled in a language arts methods course. The middle school students were excited about writing and motivated to do their best, and their writing grew in complexity,…

In order to learn to write, physically disabled children often require special seating systems that align their bodies and improve their muscle tone. The writing paper must be placed in an appropriate position and must be stabilized. The writing tools should be as interesting as possible to keep the child's attention focused on writing, and can…

A teacher presents a writing exercise designed to facilitate audience-directed, critical thinking during the process of composing, that starts students thinking in terms of sorites and enthymemes. Students first read a CIA manual, "Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare," that instructs the Contra guerrillas in illegal acts and…

Following a l987 survey that found university admission officers at 22 institutions uncertain of the educational value of most high school journalism courses, a l988 study sought to collect more extensive data in order to determine current admission office practices. Admission personnel were asked if their institutions permitted journalism to…

A study investigated the relationship between writing proficiency and two aspects of proofreading: (1) the ability to detect structural errors, and (2) the ability to accurately correct them. During the fall of 1986 seventeen English-as-a-Second-Language students in the intermediate-level grammar review and paragraph writing class at Biola…

The performance-related writing and reading competencies required in most occupations are seldom emphasized in elementary and secondary school education. Performance-related writing may be simplistic, but its composition is more complex--in occupational writing, context, audience assessment, attention to detail, concise clarity, message…

Intended to encourage teachers to examine their assumptions about teaching writing, this document containing a mixture of theory and practice deals with many aspects of writing. The chapters discuss (1) an examination of children's writing and some questions arising from the examination; (2) reasons for failure to write well, including the home…

Teachers can help students learn the art of good poetry writing in a number of ways. One is to offer students a list of poetry standards that ask students to consider the poem's conciseness, clarity of thought, and imagery; the use of nouns and verbs, and of metaphors; the sound of words; the structure, tone, and control of the poem; and the…

An examination of the reasons behind the strong evidence that practice in sentence combining leads to overall superiority in writing began with the development of a more precise syntactic instrument than had been used previously and a new set of criteria for rhetorical analysis which focused on unity, organization, succinctness, and cohesiveness.…

A study examined the role diagnosis plays in the process of revision. Seven student writers and seven expert writers were asked to revise a letter, written from one athletic coach to another discussing why women are reluctant to participate in college sports, for a handout recruiting freshman women. In addition to 26 explicitly "planted…