In the Dutch Educational Assessment Program, the students' language proficiency is measured in grade 9, at age 15. Writing performance is measured through several performance-based writing tasks, rated on numerous aspects such as content, style, organization, punctuation, spelling and grammar. As a consequence, national performance levels are…

Intended for teachers of students in grades 4 through 8 and beyond, this book offers a simple process for teaching students to think critically and write logically. Each lesson in the book provides three different writing templates: the beginning template is intended for third- and fourth-grade students; the intermediate, for grades 4 through 6;…

The approach taken by two English-as-a-Second-Language teachers at the American University in Cairo (Egypt) in intensive courses for university-bound students is described. The approach is characterized by continuous communication between teachers, with the objective of providing constant reinforcement of those skills. Focus is on how two teachers…

This book reviews pertinent theories about writing in English, English as a Second Language (ESL), and foreign languages for teachers at secondary and postsecondary levels, to provide insight into the teaching and learning processes. Five hypotheses about the nature of foreign language (FL) writing serve as points of departure for analyzing…

A study compared the topical structure (TS) of Arabic and English in order to determine whether Arab learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) transfer potential differences between Arabic and English in their English writing, or whether they use an altogether different TS indicative of developmental factors. Four sets of data were compared…

A study at the University of Aizu (Japan) investigated characteristics of technical writing assignments composed in English as a second language on computer workstations and by hand. The in-class workstation essays and hand-written essays of 24 students revealed that while all were of similar overall quality, the workstation essays were not as…

A study of essays on a single topic (capital punishment) written by 22 American high school students and 30 second-year Japanese college students investigated: cultural differences in organizational patterns in argumentative essays; comparative use of rational and affective appeals; differences in content of rational and affective appeals;…

This manual has been prepared by Ohio educators and the Ohio Department of Education to assist teachers in preparing their students for success in the Ohio Fourth-grade Proficiency Tests in Writing, Reading, Mathematics, Citizenship, and Science. Actual student responses to the April 1994 field test items are used in this manual to illustrate…

This book is intended to teach students who study abroad how to record and study their cross-cultural observations, so that culture shock may move beyond the initial orientation program to become an integrated part of the study abroad curriculum. Its thesis is that writing is a tool for learning and self-discovery, that writing about everyday…

This teacher's guide was developed to help teachers improve learning by incorporating writing into mathematics instruction. The document is divided into three sections. The issue of why writing should be utilized in the mathematics classroom is addressed in the first section. The topics discussed include why students should utilize writing in…

This annual report presents data for the entire province of Alberta (Canada) for the 1992-93 school year, combining the January, June, and August examinations. Results are also summarized by gender, population subgroup, and achievement-over-time. The Grade 12 Diploma Examinations Program, established in 1984, has three main purposes: (1) to…

These presentations examine the use of a new Macintosh Lab in Commercial Art Technology, Spanish, and English Composition classes at Clark State Community College. The first paper describes the Commercial Art Technology program at the college, highlighting the use of the Mac Lab installed in September 1993 and discussing the Electronic Publishing,…

This study investigated the collaborative interactions of junior high school boys (N=36) with learning disabilities while engaged in writing stories using a word processor. Half the subjects were of Anglo-American background and half of Mexican-American background. Each subject worked in two dyads, ethnically homogeneous and ethnically…

Two studies examine the nature of Japanese elementary school and junior high school students' preconceptions about media, the effects of teachers on these preconceptions, and the effect of such preconceptions on learning from instruction in multimedia situations. In the first study, 109 fifth graders reported their preconceptions toward watching…

Genesee Community College (GCC), in New York, received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to conduct a faculty seminar focusing on the role and historical context of the computer as a medium for writing. Twenty GCC faculty from the humanities, as well as from career/technical programs, participated in the seminar in the summer of 1992.…