Knowing the connections between ideas and the interrelationships among groups of ideas is a skill that can be useful throughout the writing process. Writers who are aware of the meaning relationships existing between sentences and ideas can discover the logical possibilities inherent in their topic at the prewriting stage, determine patterns for…

Stressing the importance of teaching the writing skills students will need in the adult workplace, the conference papers in this booklet present some of the significant research in practical writing and show how this research applies to classroom instruction. Following the introduction, the five essays discuss the following topics: (1) youth,…

Intended for teachers of an advanced undergraduate composition course for majors in any of the liberal arts, social sciences, humanities, or business, this manual offers an outline, instructional materials, and some suggested assignments. Emphasis is placed on the process of composing, particularly the ways students should write for different…

Materials are presented from a workshop designed to provide an opportunity for bilingual education researchers and practitioners to share knowledge, experiences, and concerns related to assessing language proficiency. The sessions included: (1) "Formal and Informal Evaluation of Oral English Language Skills," by William Russell; (2) "Assessing…

A study and review of the revisions of professional writers reveals 11 functions of revision: (1) altering form, (2) organizing information, (3) creating transitions, (4) deleting information, (5) expanding information, (6) emphasizing information, (7) subordinating information, (8) creating immediacy, (9) improving syntactic structures, (10)…

English composition teachers in community colleges encounter a wide range of writing abilities and problems in their classes and must provide a great deal of individualized attention to assist students in mastering the process of writing. If teachers of writing are to be able to carry out their designated commitment to literacy for students,…

A study of student perceptions of the goals of composition classes and essential rules for successful academic compositions was conducted as a pilot for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) writing project, which will collect data on instructional practices and other aspects of written composition.…

Efficient handwriting plays an important role in strengthening virtually all other school skills. One method of teaching handwriting involves personifying the letters in order to make writing more interesting, meaningful, and fun. The first lesson shows students the correct sitting position and the proper way to hold a pen. The next lesson has the…

Academic writing is distinguished by its being a problem solving activity, no matter how tentative the solutions. In this regard, writing about literature is a form of academic writing that shares the same assumptions as other academic writing. The problem solving activity of the literary interpreter consists of discovering, preserving, or…

To determine whether older students make more revisions in their essays, more kinds of revisions, or "bigger" revisions than younger students, a study was made of revisions made by 30 randomly selected seventh grade and 30 randomly selected eleventh grade students. Students were asked to write and revise twice essays in which they described a…

A description is given of a writing lab in which teacher education students from a content area reading class helped English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners improve their writing. The activity employed an instructional technique called "reformulation." First, each ESL student wrote a relatively short essay (300-400 words) on a selected topic.…

The earlier composition is introduced in language instruction, the sooner students see it as a means for self-expression. However, beginning students have not learned enough grammar to produce intelligible compositions and intermediate students frequently have difficulty in synthesizing what they have learned. Thus the teacher must try to correct…

Composition instruction based on aims of discourse rather than on modes can help students understand the purpose and function behind their writing. Such an approach, developed by Caroline Eckhardt and David Stewart, offers four categories that cover most purposes for writing in academic or career settings: (1) to clarify what the subject is, (2)…

In spring 1984, a study was conducted at Sacramento City College (SCC) to explore whether students' reading and study skills improved after participation in an "adjunct" skills course (i.e., a team-taught course which presents reading, writing, and study skills education within the context of a regular college course). The study focused on 38…

Although many studies have been conducted on the subject of writing, little research on the composing process itself can be found. One early study of significance is Janet Emig's "The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders," which compares school-sponsored writing with self-sponsored writing. Donald Graves, Lucy McCormick Calkins, and Donald…