In this study comparing peer group conversation with conversation in other settings, five college freshmen were observed and taped in the 12th week of the semester during a group discussion about their own writing. Four types of conversational moves were tallied: structural comments, solicitations, responses, and reactions. Comparison of these…

This report brings together data from three cycles of replication and serves as a summary of the findings of the Learning Disabled College Writers Project at University of Minnesota-General College. From July 1985 through September 1988, teachers and researchers examined the impact of microcomputer word processing on the classroom performance of…

The idea-centered freshman composition program at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, functions not only to meet the immediate needs of freshmen writers, but also to promote the aims of liberal education. The program has three interrelated goals: (1) to engage freshmen writers in "college thinking," defined as giving…

College freshmen enrolled in English composition classes were polled to determine their attitudes toward two different methods of bibliographic instruction: the lecture-discussion practicum and the workbook. Analysis indicated that most students perceived the lecture-discussion to be the more successful instructional technique for both general and…

Evaluates the efficacy of heuristics in the composition classroom, the importance of theory in teaching invention, the application of heuristics to stages of writing besides prewriting, and various heuristic systems. Describes the development of a theory of invention and pedagogy based on classroom experiment and the writings of other theorists.…

Suggests that composition courses can strengthen ties between reading literature and writing about it. Shows how writing assignments that originate in readings of literary texts encourage students'"writerliness." Provides a sample satiric sketch assignment sheet. (MM)

Notes that marking student papers is a rhetorical act requiring audience awareness. Describes how thinking of paper-marking as a conversation can make the task both more enjoyable and more effective. (HTH)

Investigates whether students revise more extensively and successfully with a computer than with conventional methods. Indicates that writing on a computer did not lead to increased revision for these students and that no positive relationship existed between extensive revision and the quality ratings. (AEW)

Argues that a writing-across-the-curriculum program should be designed, administered, and taught equally by all departments in a university. Stresses the importance of developing a dialogic program, with creative interaction between faculty members from various disciplines and between students and professors. (ARH)

Describes, through letters and narrative, how a teacher struggled with a stubborn adult student to teach him how to write. (SRT)

An instructor teaching a summer semester of freshman composition collected data for a descriptive study from five students in the class. Of the five students, one was Caucasian, and the other four were Hispanic; all had children. A central value of the study was its potential for demonstrating the benefits of teaching composition through…

This teacher research shows how peer reviews change draft papers. In the majority of cases, final papers improved in content. The study analyzes data collected from 40 intermediate/advanced nonnative speakers of English enrolled in freshman composition for international students at a large private university. It also examines student reflections…

Teachers of first-year college composition, particularly instructors and graduate teaching assistants with little or no teaching experience, are caught up in a debate concerning the appropriateness of social action as a facet of their personal pedagogical strategies. On the one hand, they are encouraged to promote social activism by individuals…

Unless questions about student performance and student retention can be answered and unless educators are proactive in finding and publicizing such information, basic writing programs cannot determine if what they are doing is working. Hard data, especially from underrepresented groups, is needed to support these programs. At Arizona State…

Traditionally, students taking an introductory English composition class have been encouraged to perform their research in the college or university library, but in recent years there has been a trend toward encouraging students to perform part or all of their research for composition research papers on the Internet or within an entirely…