When teachers are overly focused on the teaching of grammar instead of the teaching of writing, students' quality of work suffers. Teachers should provide examples of writer's craft and author's voice to help students learn how to write their own stories.

This paper presents research exploring "writing and text construction" practices in contemporary primary classrooms. In particular, the ways 17 teachers and their students engaged with technologies in the construction of classroom texts were investigated. The case studies presented prompt the necessity to extend more traditional…

This paper explores issues emerging from the question of how students and teachers negotiate issues of identity, authenticity, ownership, privacy and performativity in high-stakes online reflection in higher education. I examine in particular the notion of traces as both inscriptions and archives. Working online amplifies the destabilising and…

This article examines the effects of using intertextual theories to refine writing instruction in culturally diverse contexts, in terms of transfer of learning. Within a wider, two-year intervention study in six schools, four teachers were observed for a term each to describe how intertextual theories resulted in refinements to writing instruction…

This study examined the change in complexity of kindergarteners' writing after implementing writing instruction based on story elements. Writing samples from six students of three ability levels were collected over a 6-week period. Writing samples included students' oral language, pictures, and written text and were analyzed using two rubrics…

Concerns about the relation between critical and creative writing are reviewed in the context of encouraging students to engage in both kinds of writing as a response to literature in undergraduate degree courses. In particular the paper seeks to illustrate and promote good practice in the integration of creative and critical written responses to…

Saavedra discusses how children in the borderlands can inform our language and literacy practices through the Latin American literary genre known as "testimonio." Drawing from the work of Chicana/Latina feminist pedagogy, I frame my "experiencias" with language and literacy in three different moments in my life. Through these…

The greater emphasis on information books in elementary schools has led to an increased emphasis on informational writing as well. Although some have suggested utilizing mentor texts to engage children in informational writing, there has been little information about the developmental progression of children's ability to compose in this genre.…

There are many different kinds of words in the English language. Instruction in grammar and syntax helps young writers sort out when to use a plural or singular noun, or when to use an apostrophe. Silly Stories, a variation of a popular party game, reinforces the importance of word choice and conventions in writing. This article describes a…

At the dawn of a national curriculum for English in Australia, grammar has appeared without any serious interrogation of the terms of its re-entry and against ambiguous evidence about its value for teaching writing. What kinds of knowledge about language do teachers need in rhetorically productive teaching? This article investigates the potential…

Comic strips are proposed in the teaching of writing not only because of their appealing forms, but also due to their salient features as media to present content, organization and grammatical aspects of narrative texts. This study investigates the implementation of comic strips in teaching writing through a collaborative classroom action research…

This paper explores the problems of EFL classroom writings in the Chinese college teaching context from the perspective of textual organization and pragmatic strategy. Influence of their native cultural thought pattern causes the problem of discourse pattern and cohesion; lack of sufficient pragmatic strategy renders students' unawareness in…

An adjunct turned writing program administrator reflects on her professional journey and describes efforts to improve the teaching environment amongst composition faculty--primarily part-time--within her department. Based on a local program review, a pilot faculty relations plan was implemented that addressed two major areas: offering more…

The emphasis on engaging students in high-impact educational practices is increasing in higher education. Since its release in 2008, "High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter" has been the go-to report for campuses seeking guidance to help their students "reap the full…

Students in developmental writing courses and first-year composition courses struggle with the writing process. Individual instructional strategies have been insufficient to engage these students or build their self-confidences for further writing courses. The purpose of this study was to understand how students perceive a combination of three…