Weekly letter writing between a teacher and her students opened communication lines, increased interpersonal awareness, provided positive feedback, and, indirectly, developed specific writing skills. (Examples of students' letters and the teacher's replies are included.) (RL)

Reviews the objectives of composition within the total English as a second language curriculum. The limitations of popular instructional methods are discussed and the introduction of controlled paragraph rhetoric is suggested. (CFM)

Reviews three studies by learning theorists that suggest that learning to write generally follows a developmental pattern. Presents four assumptions common to these studies and discusses suggestions to improve developmental writing classes. (DR)

Descriptive grammars based on sets of rewrite rules were constructed to summarize the structure and organization of 120 entries in a second grade student's journal of class news. These rules illuminated the relationship between experience, abstraction, and generation of structure, and the use of structure to express complex thoughts. (PMJ)

Reviews the importance of assessment in placing students in two-year college composition courses and describes the development of the objective English Qualifying Examination used at Northern Virginia Community College. Includes sample test items. (MKM)

Reviews the background and rationale for the development of tests of English for migrant students (TEMS) by the Australian Council for Educational Research Migrant Education Project. Describes the general content of TEMS and explains how TEMS can be incorporated in an English as a second language curriculum. (AEA)

Describes a literature course organized around the themes of home and family that are meaningful to freshmen and sophomores, which demonstrates that good writers draw their characters and formulate their conflicts from universal human experiences and concerns. (MKM)

Real world experience is a valuable tool in learning to understand and analyze. This ability is an essential prerequisite for writing interpretive news stories dealing with scientific developments and environmental news. This interpretive approach enables readers to estimate the impact such developments will have on their lives. (RE)

If the instructor carefully plans for formation of small groups and the writing sessions, group writing in a business communications course offers such advantages as rapid feedback, peer response, and a variety of evaluative comments. Small group sessions in composing, evaluating, and synthesizing are described. (MF)

Discusses three books on language and literature instruction that present humanistic approaches to teaching students how to write, think, and express themselves in a creative manner. (FL)

Foreign and American college freshmen at the University of Southern California were administered a questionnaire to determine their past, present, and future writing needs to illuminate concerns curriculum planners should consider. Data on survey responses are presented. (SW)

Suggests a six-step exercise that can be used in one 50-minute session to help students (or teachers at a workshop) experience the writing process of prewriting, writing, and rewriting with response from a peer. (TJ)

An examination of 2,000 freshman themes, half written from 1950 to 1957 and half from 1973 to 1976, revealed that recent themes had many more deviations from standard usage, mechanics, and punctuation. (DD)

Suggests that teachers must integrate the instruction of language and content if they wish to develop fully their students' cognitive abilities. (MKM)

Research in the area of writing a second language is almost non-existent. Composition texts are generally poor. This article reviews the most commonly used textbooks for ESL (English as a Second Language) composition. (CFM)