Highlights twelve common mistakes made in college and university publications and information dissemination, with examples, and offers specific techniques for creating more interesting and persuasive communications. Discussion refers to fund-raising letters, publication headlines and headings, photo captions, use of attributions, use of jargon,…

Reviews the effect of research into the writing process on British English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) pedagogy and considers what is meant by process writing. The article offers recommendations for improving writing tasks in coursebooks to practice and develop students' skills needed at each stage of the writing process. (12 references)…

Compared 28- to 53-month-olds' writing and drawing. Scores on a writing scale composed of graphic, "writing-like," and symbolic schemes improved with age. Recognition of drawings as drawings preceded recognition of writings as writings. Writing and drawing scores were substantially correlated, even with age partialed out, suggesting that…

Proposes that beginning journalism classes teach multiple skills, including law, decision-making, interpersonal communication, interviewing, and critical thinking. Outlines how to convince administrators of the need for beginning journalism classes, and how to develop an effective class. Lists philosophy and course goals for one such class. (PM)

Reports on the exploratory phase of a computer assisted language learning project designed to provide a package enabling students of German as a second language to develop their reading and writing skills, learn new vocabulary and syntactical structure, and enhance their competence in the production of text commentary. (Six references) (Author/CK)

Describes a study of differences between developmental writing students in associate and baccalaureate degree programs at Ohio's University of Cincinnati. Reports that, although the groups had similar writing skills, significant differences were found in family background, high school English experience, and expectations toward writing. The…

Describes the Math Pals program which emphasized mathematics communication, allowed students to become active problem solvers with a pal in a different school, and gave students a multicultural experience. (JRH)

Discusses research conducted in a middle school writing center that showed the necessity of a constructivist philosophy for the curriculum and the teaching process if information-seeking skills or writing is taught as a process. Problems with the teachers' use and understanding of the writing center are described. (Author/LRW)

This introduction to Section 1, Part 2 of the theme issue discusses a study that investigated the story-grammar propositions of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Results found that over 50% of the students could not produce the minimal components of a good story. The processes of story production are explained, including schemata…

Studied differences in language gain in French among two groups of students, those who studied abroad and those who remained at home to study in the college classroom. Six nonteacher native speakers compared the oral and written fluency of both groups of students. Results show the context of language learning is a factor in what oral and written…

Investigates the effects of task repetition on the writing skills of upper-level developmental reading students. Reports that productivity, use of source text, and representation of key ideas improved with simple repetition of meaningful literacy tasks. However, there was also an increase in copying from the sources. (Contains 38 references.)…

Analysis of the use of the skills model to teach basic writing to nontraditional English language learners in community college points out barriers to this approach, including wide variation in linguistic, cultural, and educational background and inability to help students transition to academic discourse. An academic socialization model using…

Describes a project that integrated technology into the social studies curriculum by having 9- and 10-year-old students complete Internet-based lessons on each region of the United States. Discusses what was learned about how reading, writing, and language were used by students as they moved through these activities. Provides suggestions for…

Discusses the validity of automated, or computer-based, scoring for improving the cost effectiveness of performance assessments and describes a study that examined the relationship of scores from a graduate level writing assessment to several independent, non-test indicators of examinee's writing skills, both for automated scores and for scores…

Provides comments from five teachers in response to an article in the same issue of "English Journal" concerning a teacher's handling of a rebellious high school student. (MG)