To clarify how writing across the curriculum improves learning across the curriculum, this book provides an overview of the current state of writing instruction at the secondary and college levels as it applies to teaching in the content areas. Each chapter contains practical ideas for using writing in the classroom, along with a discussion of the…

An 18-item survey was distributed to 308 faculty members at Tennessee Technological University to elicit information about the kinds of writing students are expected to do in courses both inside and outside the English department, the relative importance of writing in various courses, and the specific expectations faculty members have concerning…

Intended to involve students in language and communication study in such a way that significant thinking occurs, this collection of teaching ideas outlines ways to teach literature and composition that engage the students in such thinking processes as inferring, sequencing, predicting, classifying, problem solving, and synthesizing. The activities…

Although teachers are often told to use literature as models for students' writing, they are rarely provided with specific suggestions on how, when, and why to use literature, or trade books, in their curriculum. Yet there are many situations in which the use of literature can be helpful to the novice writer. With pre-kindergarten or kindergarten…

A step-by-step process links listening, note-taking, composing, and revising in order to make a college level music writing assignment a more instructive and fulfilling exercise. In order to help them focus on the music, students are given a chart in which they divide the piece of music they are listening to into events, and then match these…

A study investigated the effectiveness of peer critiquing and the use of writing models in the preparation of scientific reports. Primary trait scoring was used to evaluate laboratory reports on exercise physiology written by four different groups of sophomore biology majors: (1) a reference (control) group that prepared for writing reports with…

Recent research indicates that typical writing assignments given to advanced students of English as a second language do not prepare them for university level writing. However, the technique of information transfer, which involves presentation of a visual stimulus to prompt writing, can be used effectively to practice the skills most…

Most of the 24 books reviewed in this annotated bibliography concern writing and are recent publications (1980-1985). Titles and authors are as follows: "Teacher" (Sylvia Ashton-Warner); "What Did I Write? Beginning Writing Behavior" (Marie M. Clay); "Composing: Writing as a Self-Creating Process" (William E. Coles);…

A study sought to determine the relationship between grammar competency and success in a business communication course. Students completed a written English competency test consisting of 25 sentences, each with one of eight kinds of errors, including comma splice and incorrect pronoun reference. Students were then asked to choose the one…

The honors program described in this language arts curriculum guide has three components: language study, literature, and composition. The first section of the guide describes the language study component, which deals with content areas, general objectives, and performance strategies. The second section discusses the combination of literature and…

Noting that most writing across the curriculum programs have been dominated by the thinking of members of the English or composition departments, this paper describes the program developed at Loyola College (Maryland), which involved collaboration between writing specialists and content area teachers. The paper first describes the Loyola…

One strategy used to improve teaching at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, is a six-year writing across the curriculum project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Faculty from 14 departments spend a year teaming with a member of the writing department; following that year of paired teaching, the content faculty become…

A review of dozens of journal articles and books on the subject of writing across the curriculum reveals the following basic assumptions that seem to characterize most college writing across the curriculum programs: (1) writing is a complex and developmental process; (2) writing should be used to promote learning; (3) the teaching of writing is…

Suggests using writing to enhance students' learning of content material because a positive environment that encourages writing allows students to explore, analyze, and synthesize what they are learning in a content classroom. Enumerates principles for facilitating comprehension and recommends using a guided writing procedure. (SKC)

Describes a program in a tenth-grade geography class for helping students who speak English as a second language develop better writing skills. Specifically examines the use of English as a second language (ESC) teaching techniques to accomplish this task. (RKM)