Examines the effect of simplified reading materials on writing skills of 10-year-old English-as-a-Second-Language students in England. Finds no increase in students' expressive resources but does find a consolidating effect on command of the language system. Relates results to Krashen's model of second language acquisition. (RS)

Compared the writing skills of psychology students enrolled in a sheltered content-area English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing course with those of ESL psychology students enrolled in a course with more traditional instruction. Both groups gained in language proficiency; however, the findings suggest that focussed reading rather than actual…

Thirteen-year-olds' interest in writing is alterable in educational settings; and is significantly associated with the educational productivity factors of subjects' (N=28,405) peer group, gender, and quantity and quality of instruction. Essay writing performance appears to be associated significantly with a student's ability, peer group, and a…

Described is a method of teaching laboratory report writing to undergraduate students. The sections of student lab reports are reviewed and compared with scientific papers. The writing process including drafts and peer review is discussed. Results of the use of this method are provided. (CW)

Discusses activities of emergent preschool writers and editors involved in the Writing Table Project at the Child and Family Center of the University of Nevada at Reno. (BB)

Considers biography-centered learning as a model for teaching social studies in elementary school. Provides a sequence of steps and a description of each to help students read and write biography as a knowledge transforming process. Claims students learn to do research and write, both vital to a democratic society. (NL)

Reports on two research studies investigating whether teachers can enhance third-grade students' written composition skills by reading aloud to them. Indicates that written composition skills improved, especially written syntactic maturity. (SR)

Described is a physics course for satisfying the junior-year writing requirement. Gives nine assignment examples of the course. Discusses the use of the writing component as a teaching aid in junior level "Electricity and Magnetism" course. (YP)

Briefly describes the differences between specialized foreign language schools and ordinary general education schools in the Soviet Union. The changes currently taking place in the organization of English language teaching in schools in the Soviet Union are discussed. (22 references) (Author/CB)

Reexamines what learning the alphabet means from the child's perspective. Draws from several case studies and other naturalistic examinations of young children as they learn to read and write to describe what young children learn about the alphabet. (MG)

Reports a case study which reveals that children use the knowledge they hold about what writing is for, how writing is created, and the conventions of writing in their first language to help them write successfully in the second language. (MM)

Observations about legal education in Australia address: the search for relevance, common criticisms, educational methods, student socialization, the quest for new faculty challenges, faculty training, legal research and writing skills, finances, and faculty leadership difficulties. (MSE)

Reconsiders how child writers gain control of story forms, the functions of children's story worlds in their real worlds, and the connections between form and function in literacy development. Focuses on one students' writing development to show the gradual evolution of literary perspective. (MG)

A study of kindergarten children used three language-eliciting situations to obtain stories. The stories were compared for fluency, vocabulary, descriptive nature, and story structure. Results indicated that stories elicited without the use of a prop were more fluent and reflected a more sophisticated story structure than those elicited by a…

Describes three methods for research on the second-language writing assessment process and the kinds of questions these methods can answer. Methods include direct observation, ethnographic observation, and studies of the relations between ratings and objective measures of various textual characteristics. (JL)