Explores the influences of context upon the writing of 18-year-olds in 6 subject areas in a secondary school in London, England. Examines how students and teachers negotiate compromises between using writing to understand discipline-specific concepts and using writing to pass examinations. (KEH)

Assessment of the English writing proficiency of 23 native French speaking students on 3 composition tasks found variance in the qualities of written texts and problem-solving behaviors. Writing expertise was found to affect discourse organization and content, writing complexity, heuristic strategies, and control strategies, while second-language…

Examines three children in remedial contexts to show how whole language principles can be used to guide diagnosis and instruction for special needs children. Notes that remedial programs should embed instruction in meaningful events in the students' lives, rather than focusing on component parts in reading and writing. (MM)

Arguing that students must understand historical methodology in order to fully comprehend and appreciate history, Woodman presents an exercise that provides for a concrete, hands-on writing and evaluation of an historical essay by students. Describes the project in which students use primary sources to write about the Freedmen's Bureau and…

Examined English compositions written from plans in English and Turkish by Turkish university students from two different proficiency levels. The study investigated whether there were differences between plans written in Turkish and English and the resulting compositions that correlate with the topic and proficiency level, and whether there were…

The effects of presenting a choice of writing tasks on the quality of essays produced by eleventh graders were studied with 34,200 students in Georgia. The choice condition had no substantive effect on the quality of essays, but race, gender, and the writing task variable did. (SLD)

Describes how parents can help teachers assess student writing. Initially, parents need training workshops and hands-on experience before evaluating student writing. The article presents tips for annual assessment, describes how one Pennsylvania school district scores students' writing, and suggests further uses for parent volunteers. (SM)

Investigates the relationship between culture/language background and rhetorical style by examining the degree of similarity in the writings of Black students in two rhetorical modes: narration and exposition. Results from 30 high school students show culture/language background influences students' writings and suggests that written language…

A case is made against the educational application with nonproficient writers of "canned" feedback provided by text analysis computer programs marketed as grammar checkers and style analyzers. The feedback does not teach students. Alternative approaches for giving students feedback in the electronic medium are offered. (46 references) (Author/LB)

A study compared the influences of rhetorical and sentence-level features on holistic essay scores assigned by raters who are experienced writing instructors but not trained in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction. In scoring six university-level essays, these raters placed emphasis on ESL sentence-level errors far more than on essays'…

Presents brief descriptions of 46 software programs designed to (1) help writers collaborate over a network; (2) help writers invent; (3) allow comment after critical reading; (4) help writers write research papers; (5) help writers analyze style/mechanics/usage; (6) offer on-line reference guides; (7) author multimedia courseware; and (8) assess…

Obtained and scored argumentative writing samples of fourth, sixth, tenth, and twelfth grade students. Found significant grade level differences in writing samples scored according to Toulmin's model of argument and a holistic scoring procedure. Few children in any grade used features of opposition or response to opposition in written arguments.…

Discusses a college instructor's experimentation with portfolios in the writing class. Notes that, after the first year, students' writing had not improved--they still wrote as if the teacher were the only audience. Describes changes made (having students generate their own topics, reading each other's writing, and publishing students' writing)…

A survey of 174 policymakers, employers, and college faculty attempted to identify the writing skills college graduates need to be effective citizens and productive employees. Areas of consensus are identified for the following areas: audience awareness; purpose for writing; prewriting activities; organization; drafting; collaborating; and…

Use of portfolios and performance tasks has exponentially increased as educators seek to be as "fair" as possible, and to link measurement, assessment, and evaluation more closely to cognition, curriculum, and instruction. However, high standards of reliability and validity are equally essential in the use of "authentic"…