The Survival Skills Center described in this report operates at Columbia College, CA, to provide individualized instruction in basic reading, writing, and math skills using a series of modules which focus on problems commonly encountered in everyday life. After discussing the need for such instruction among nontraditional students, the paper…

Drawing upon research into the nature of the English writing system and about the development of spelling ability, this booklet presents an approach to spelling in which learning to spell is viewed as a highly complex intellectual accomplishment that develops over time and in conjunction with a student's experience with and knowledge of the…

A study was designed to measure the relationship between learning to read and learning to write at the elementary school level. Measures of phonics knowledge, reading vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, and grammatical and organizational complexity of writing were administered to 256 second grade and 253 fifth grade students. The findings…

Before an effective program can be developed to help the remedial writing student, instructors must dispel the myth that college students can read college level materials. Related to this assumption is the belief that those who cannot read in college cannot do so because of a lack of intelligence. Clearly what is important in understanding the…

Sentence combining activities can be used throughout the English curriculum. The entire composing process can be developed with sentence combining activities based on student rough drafts of book reports, analysis and imitation of sentences written by professional writers, the organization of sentences in whole paragraphs or essays, and "oral…

This report contains information on the 1980 Basic Skills Assessment Writing Sample that the New Mexico State Department of Education administered to over 1,000 tenth grade students. Sections of the report provide the following information: (1) background data and an explanation of holistic scoring, which was used in the assessment; (2)…

A taxonomy of revision changes was developed and applied to 18 case studies of writers' revisions. Subjects were six inexperienced student-writers, six advanced student-writers, and six expert adult-writers. The primary distinction of the taxonomy was between surface (formal and meaning-preserving) revisions and text-base (microstructure and…

Treating all major aspects of the writing assessment process, this manual is designed to help school districts evaluate writing in order to improve students' writing skills. The first major section of the manual presents background information on general measurement issues, such as evaluating writing ability by means of direct and indirect…

To ascertain what type of environment exists in elementary classrooms in the United States to stimulate oral language, questionnaires were mailed to 500 classroom teachers. Data from the 412 respondents indicated that 83% believed their college courses in language arts had not prepared them to encourage the development of children's language, and…

In contrast to a graduate degree in English that stresses analysis, synthesis, and criticism, and limits practical experience in teaching methods for reading and writing, graduate study in library science can provide exposure to learning resources for prospective teachers. Such programs provide experience in the use of book and nonbook resources,…

The intent of this book is to acquaint teachers with the realistic situations and composing processes that they can use when teaching business, report, and scientific writing. An introductory chapter provides a working definition of technical writing that reflects such essential writing components as recording the experience and having an…

This paper describes a teaching method based on generative transformational grammar that has been successfully used in the ESL (English as a second language) classroom. The method and techniques are based on the Elgin-Rush study in which the problem of teaching basic writing skills to native English speakers was addressed. The present study…

The need for experts in technical communication is growing significantly while the number of college graduates in the field accounts for less than one percent of the need. Three major types of problems should be considered in trying to establish a technical communication program: those involving society's need for better technical communicators,…

Journal writing is an expressive form of writing that teachers in all curricula can use to help their students increase writing fluency, facilitate learning, and promote cognitive growth. It combines the positive aspects of diaries and class notebooks, focusing on academic subjects from a personal point of view. Teachers can assign journal entries…

Designed to provide teachers with a listing of sequentially ordered objectives in specific language arts areas, this curriculum guide for kindergarten through grade eight was developed in Hyde Park, New York, as a foundation for a total communication development program. The course descriptions, arranged according to grade, are classified under…