Presents the results of a survey of several freshman composition instructors who offer their opinions of teaching writing and empirical research into the writing process. Notes the problems with such research, as well as the problems of overburdened composition teachers who receive little recognition. (JC)

Argues that successful interpretation of writing tasks demands writers' authority, confidence, and knowledge of rhetorical choices, allowing them to take charge of their own writing rather than catering to the imagined demands of a teacher. (RS)

Explains the purpose and function of the student-teacher memo, which puts both student and teacher into the composing process which produced the draft. Enables students to examine their own work closely, think about their composing processes, and address themselves to a reader. (MS)

Considers the generation gap from the viewpoint of a 23-year-old teacher, who muses on her parents' generation and that of her young students. (NKA)

Discusses why writers write, and cites caring about the response to writing as the key to development. Urges teachers to be sensitive to the social nature of writing and to the vulnerability of writers, and to demonstrate and encourage writing for fun, enjoyment, and power. (MM)

Examines the effects of using word processors and other writing tools on college students' writing. Finds no significant difference between the writing achievement of experimental groups (who used writing tools) and control groups (who did not). Suggests the widespread use of computers calls into question the results of such experiments. (ARH)

Suggests a number of criteria and procedures that represent a model of scholarly inquiry into the writing process. Discusses why some researchers are discontented with present models. Details what the author feels are acceptable, even desirable, operating assumptions, research methodologies, and ways of reporting results. (JD)

Notes that writing across the curriculum programs have caused increasing discomfort about the role that English teachers can and should play in cross-curricular writing programs. Suggests an approach to freshman writing that can provide an effective model for a program that appropriately includes among its participants teachers of English. (HTH)

This experimental, statistical study investigated the effects that the testing of grammar and writing mechanics would have on the overall quality and reduction of errors in college students' essays for freshman composition. In the experimental group of 42 students, the professor assigned several exercises in grammar and mechanics as a review…

In order to explore new ways of talking to and with composition students, an instructor might ask whether visual artists can teach college writing instructors about the composing process and, whether, by stepping outside the discipline, insights can be gained for more effective teaching of first-year writing students. For one instructor,…

Each year that the author of this paper, an English instructor at Moorhead College (Minnesota), teaches the first-year "research paper," one instructor turns more and more to collaborative writing work. And she admits that some of her motives in reshaping the research paper in collaborative ways can seem to be based in assisting herself…

Taking readers inside a first-year college writing classroom and inviting them to reflect on the social, interpersonal, and institutional issues being worked through in specific classroom discussions, this book presents an account of an honestly politicized college writing classroom and focuses on authentic classroom practices and actual students'…

Interviews 11 self-defined underachieving college freshmen. Synthesizes 13 definitions of achievement by students. Analyzes the interviews repeatedly to produce a list of the students' concepts of achievement, arranged from the most common to the least common. Finds each student held more than one definition of achieving, some definitions in the…

Notes that journal writing can be effective in cultivating formal discourse while respecting cultural differences. Considers how the author modified his introductory composition class to help students to communicate in a context that united or at least respected the diffusion of languages that permeated diverse classrooms. (SG)

Suggests that the role of community colleges is changing in the United States, and the call for academics in community colleges to step up to new challenges is already being sounded. Argues that every English instructor who teaches basic first-year composition and introductory literature has the ability to use and teach modern technological…