Describes using drama to provide constant scaffolding as children learn to write stories. The 5-week process begins with collaboratively setting the stage, proceeds with scaffolding for reviewing the elements of stories (punctuation, the sequence of events, characterization, the plot problem and solution), and concludes with independent projects…

Describes the use of a local area network and video switching equipment in teaching revision skills on computer. Explains that reading stories from texts, rewriting them from differing character viewpoints, and editing them as a group exposed students to a variety of writing problems and stimulated various revision strategies. (SG)

Gives a history of the whole language movement. Looks at the early use of the term "whole language." Explores influences from philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and education on development of whole language. Discusses influences from early educational movements in the U.S., England, and New Zealand. (Author/BB)

Reviews Monsters and Make-Believe Plus, a computer program which supports learners in their quest to become skilled language users. Finds it to be one of the most powerful software programs available to implement a whole language program. (MG)

The viability of self-instructional strategy training was investigated in a study involving 22 learning disabled and 11 normal fifth and sixth graders. Training produced meaningful and lasting effects on composition skills and heightened the sense of self-efficacy of subjects. (TJH)

The pedagogical literature on the peer response group as a teaching method in the writing classroom is examined, within the context of current theories on teaching and learning of writing. The few empirical studies on the method are reviewed. Suggestions for reconceptualizing peer response to writing are provided. (TJH)

Suggests four overlapping areas of exploration that might help spark "creative re-formations" of the way English teachers think about computers and their relationship to writing: (1) computers and teaching writing, (2) computers and language theory, (3) computers and learning from the past, and (4) computer research in other fields. (GEA)

Explains the use of the Times Network System's (TTNS) Electronic Mailbox in the classroom, discussing advantages and disadvantages, and suggests conditions favorable to a successful program. (NH)

A two-year study determined the effects of a comprehensive cooperative-learning approach to reading and language arts instruction on students' achievement, attitudes, and metacognitive awareness. Students in second through sixth grades, some mainstreamed academically handicapped, worked in heterogeneous learning teams on reading and writing…

The integration of text analysis programs into realistic classroom writing activities was examined in a study of 39 university students. English-as-a-foreign-language students' own revision processes, teachers' feedback, peer editing, and two commercial packages (Grammatik and Complete Writer's Toolkit) were assessed. Attitudes toward the programs…

The nature, uniqueness, and value of testimonials in English-as-a-Second-Language courses are described. Oral narratives, collected from people from developing countries who cannot write, are edited and translated by a recorder/collector. Examples are cited and their use in the classroom is reported. (Contains 12 references.) (LB)

Questions must be raised about the nature, value, and use of academic discourse in the national debate on reforming the canon, acknowledging diversity, etc. It is proposed that students be involved in authentic work by immersion in reading, writing, and language and by having opportunities think critically about the material. (Contains 25…

Reviews what has happened in the field of second-language teaching over the past decades and examines the development of the process approach to writing by comparing it with the traditional product approach. A critical evaluation of the new approach follows and forms the premise for recommending a philosophy of eclecticism. (41 references) (CK)

Maintains that writing is one of the most important skills students can acquire. Asserts that social studies teachers can help students learn the writing process through a variety of written formats, such as essays, diary writing, and letter writing. Describes a classroom activity using letters and editorials. (CFR)

Describes a genre-based approach to content writing instruction used in a fifth-grade social studies class in which the majority of the students came from English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) backgrounds. A unit on explorers and exploration used narrative, descriptive, persuasive, and expository writing assignments to improve the students'…