Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet describes five situations where writing and speaking experiences are used as a way to learn subject matter. The first section of the booklet describes the learning that takes place in the home, where writing and…

International students travel in many ways. First of all geographically: they move from one country to another. Secondly, they travel through their own identities: they have to find a new place in a new context by familiarizing themselves with new values and customs, while making sure they meet the requirements their studies ask of them. Writing…

Both curricular reformers and writing specialists believe a connection exists between critical thinking and writing, however two obstacles have prevented any conclusion from emerging. One is that there is no established shared understanding of what "critical thinking" means. The other is that no one knows how to measure it, even though…

To evaluate the efficacy of faculty seminars for writing across the curriculum given for the instructors at Robert Morris College (Pennsylvania), an examination of the instructors' verbal protocols was conducted. Eleven faculty members from a variety of disciplines who participated in the 45 hour-long seminars and eight who did not participate…

Intended for teaching assistants and non-writing specialists to whom students come for help in preparing assigned writing papers, this guide suggests questions and comments to ask such students to help them clarify what is happening, or not happening, in their writing, and in the thinking which this writing reveals. The guide roughly parallels…

Reporting on the work of a task force formed for the purpose of improving writing skills in the Memphis (Tennessee) City Schools, grades K-12, this paper identifies the efforts of the task force and its recommendations and traces the development and implementation of the Writing Across the Curriculum Project. An introduction notes the importance…

The best way to teach writing is to make it the way to learn something else. Instructors need to look at written communication as it is used in real life. When students take pains with their writing, it is because what they have to say is important to them. The students' need to communicate a particular meaning for a particular purpose guides them…

Given that the task of freshman composition is to initiate students into the multidisciplinary academic discourse community, English teachers can speed up the novice's introduction more effectively than can specialists in those disciplines by having students observe, analyze, and produce the salient features of a discourse community's…

A survey of graduate writing courses offered at United States universities revealed two rationales for providing graduate level writing instruction: (1) students are underequipped by their undergraduate training for more advanced work, and (2) graduate work demands a different kind and level of writing which schools have a responsibility to teach.…

Based on knowledge gleaned from eight years of research on children's writing development, this book focuses on the teaching of writing to children in the elementary school. The first section of the book deals with the essentials in teaching writing, and the establishment of a classroom that nurtures and supports growth in writing. The second…

Intended for college-level basic writers, this booklet integrates training in selected oral communication activities with writing instruction in order to improve students' academic writing. The first section discusses oral communication theory, emphasizing the underlying rhetorical abilities of invention, audience adaptation, and argumentation, to…

A writing across the curriculum program offers an organized and systematic approach to involving all departments in the development of student literacy. Among preliminary steps in implementing these programs are (1) a review of the literature on student literacy, (2) a local assessment of college students' literacy needs, (3) a local assessment of…

Step-by-step guidelines to help educators and community groups implement a National Women's History Week essay contest, in which elementary and secondary students write about women, are provided. Students are encouraged to write about a woman they personally know so that they can conduct an oral history interview. An alternate approach would be to…

This idea book of supplementary lessons on Japan is a compilation of lessons produced by elementary and secondary teachers (K-12) at a 1983 summer institute. Lessons offer teaching strategies, factual information, and teaching tips, focusing primarily on writing skills; visual arts; games, music, and other arts; and social studies. The writing…

To determine whether a teacher's guidance of the writing process in the classroom can produce measurable improvement in students' writing and learning over the course of a semester, an instructor of a college business management course taught three sections of the same course, using the same texts and making the same assignments (six written case…