This paper argues that writing teachers' emphases on orderly and polished products from their students have inhibited the ability to invent ideas and think clearly. The teaching techniques of the poet William Stafford are described as a model for teaching students to be more thoughtful. It is concluded that teachers of writing should first…

In this study, four teachers each taught a composition course at a community college in which they pointed out only those aspects of the students' work which were praiseworthy. On student essays, in their logs, during in-class activities, and during conferences, students were given only positive feedback. The objective of this approach was not to…

Students preparing to teach writing in public school or college should understand the conceptual basis of composition and the teaching of writing, as well as be exposed to practical teaching experience. Writing teachers need to have an understanding of the structure and history of the English language, rhetoric, and the varied theoretical…

A proposed interdisciplinary course linking the areas of English and data processing is described in this paper. Expertise in both fields is perceived as a function of the processes of defining, recreating metaphors and models, locating assumptions within messages, and becoming aware of meaning. Potential enrollees include both students in the…

Investigation of the effect of a task-oriented learning group approach to writing on attitude and skill improvement, as compared to a traditional one-teacher, whole-class design, was the purpose of this study. Fifty high school English students were administered baseline tests of writing skill. An IQ score was also obtained, and the subjects were…

This course guide for business English and communication, divided into eight sections, focuses on the primary objective of the course: to develop the student's ability to communicate effectively in business. Section one is a guide to understanding communication in everyday life and oral and written communication in business. Section two outlines…

This paper describes a freshman composition course at a community college which was taught by television and which included thirty 30-minute tapes and an accompanying study guide. Entitled "Writing for a Reason," the primary objective of the course was to help students write effectively so they will be able to fulfill their writing requirements in…

This book attempts to introduce the reader to techniques of communication control, in listening and speaking as well as reading and writing. To this end, the use of a simplified vocabulary called Every Man's English is advocated. Section 2 presents some principles of Every Man's English. The contribution of Ogden's Basic English, a core vocabulary…

Selected aspects of the remedial reading-writing program of Miami-Dade Junior College were evaluated. Placement in the program was designed as the independent variable. Grade point average, reading and writing test scores, continuation in college, and performance in regular college courses were dependent variables. Students earning a raw score of…

Despite the recent focus on the role of dialect differences in creating learning difficulties for speakers of nonstandard dialects of English, research has tended to concentrate on difficulties related to speaking and reading, while ignoring those involved in teaching writing to these students. This paper attempts to meet the need for such studies…

In an attempt to improve students' written expression, this study tested two assumptions: (1) that if students were led through a series of oral language experiences to a realization of the relationships between oral and written sentence structures which they were encouraged to practice, they would write a variety of sentence structures; and (2)…

In answer to the need for more effective punctuation instruction, a project, based on the theory that an essential relationship exists between intonation and punctuation, was designed for and executed with two 9th-grade student groups--one experimental, the other control. The experimental group received punctuation instruction through the use of…

The basic requirements of all good prose are clarity, accuracy, brevity, and simplicity. Especially in public prose--in which the meaning is the crux of the article or speech--concise, vigorous English demands a minimum of adjectives, a maximum use of the active voice, nouns carefully chosen, a logical argument with no labored or obscure points,…

In the last few years, a rhetoric of inquiry has emerged to complement the rhetoric of the finished word. New interest in the "pre-writing" activities--e.g., audience analysis, concept formation, and the discovery of judgments which order and give meaning to experience--has manifested itself both in research into the nature of these activities and…

This study attempted to answer three questions dealing with written communication: (1) Does the nature of the essay test penalize poor writers? (2) Can short-term, concentrated instruction measurably improve the communication ability of poor writers? (3) Is written communicative ability strongly related to knowledge of the English language? To…