Reviews "Marking A Level English Literature" by P.A. Lapworth, which is intended as a clarification for teachers of the basis on which candidates' papers are assessed by the Joint Matriculation Board examiners at 'A' Level. (DF)

Reports the results of a study exploring the relationship between motivation and writing in college freshmen and refutes the popular theory that most students have a strong desire to express themselves but cannot. (DF)

Discusses criteria to use when evaluating poetry written by children and contains numerous examples of poetry written by children. (DF).

Examines the CUNY-WAT program and questions many aspects of it, especially the choice and phrasing of topics. (FL)

Contains readers' comments as well as the authors' responses to earlier "College English" articles by Kenneth Bruffee and Johnathan Kamholtz and Robin Sheets. Contains comments only on articles by Ann Berthoff and William Marling. (EL)

Tells how to improve in-class essay exams by viewing them as a rough draft of a yet-to-be completed essay on which the teacher will make specific corrections, comments, and suggestions about how to improve it. Describes the grading of such exams and class discussion dealing with all aspects of the essay. (EL)

Advocates the practice of peer editing in primary and secondary schools and offers three workable strategies for using students as editors: role playing, comments on the pages, and face-to-face critiques. (DF)

Discusses the problems of readers' different responses to essay test passages and the implications for the subsequent writing assignment. Describes a model of the writing assessment episode and discusses four generalizations about writing task interpretation. (HTH)

Describes a study of the influence of wording changes in essay questions on test performance. Results did not support the hypothesis that such changes would affect writer performance. (HTH)

Examines some of the cultural and pedagogical forces that shaped nineteenth century rhetorical history and resulted in the obsession with mechanical correctness that for so many years defined the college course in written rhetoric. (HTH)

Discusses a study of the reliability of a categorical instrument for evaluating compositions written by upper intermediate university English as a second language students. The instrument tests organization, logical development of ideas, grammar, mechanics, and style. Results indicate that the scoring instrument is moderately reliable. (SED)

Describes a cloze test designed to measure writing flexibility, then examines its effectiveness in distinguishing experienced college-level writers from the inexperienced ones. Concludes that the measure is effective and that responsiveness to style features is a significant component of experienced writing. (FL)

Describes a composition course that uses stylistic and rhetorical analysis to help students become sensitive to the surface structure of their own prose. (MM)

Reports on a study of the influence of format, criteria, and the passage of time on teacher evaluations of student writing; found that a rating scale influenced stability of grades over time and higher grades generally. (AEA)

Reports on the steps undertaken and the discoveries made by the English department of Illinois State University in its development of a valid, reliable measure of student competency in freshman composition. (HOD)