A study examined sentence production errors and syntactic complexity in students' writing in two modes of discourse and at three grade levels. Subjects, average and high developmental students enrolled in seventh, ninth, and eleventh grade classes, each wrote two compositions, one in the descriptive the other in the persuasive mode. Data analysis…

This report examines the composing processes of expert writers to determine which cognitive processes in expository writing produce an opportunity for a creative response. The first section considers how the ill-defined nature of many writing problems and the cognitive processes experts use to solve these problems interact to provide an…

This annotated bibliography contains 28 references on the ways writing can be used in the study of literature and ways in which literature can be utilized to foster invention in students' writing. The bibliography contains citations from the period between 1982 to 1989 and is divided into three sections. The first section includes strategies,…

Arguing that writers must be able to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the texts they produce, this paper begins by isolating some of the persistent questions raised by people in education, business, and government who want to judge how well their texts are working. The paper then compares the cognitive processes involved in "reading…

One of the goals of writing instruction is to teach students to develop coherence in their writing; however, writing instruction that relies too heavily on logical connections and organizational techniques often introduces so many rules that students lose their personal connection to what they write. Coherence has less to do with structure than…

A survey investigated whether changes in the curricular status of professional writing have produced concomitant changes in pedagogy. The study examined whether there are more professional writing teachers teaching as they traditionally have or whether teachers are now rethinking their approaches to the subject. A survey instrument was completed…

This paper reviews research about writing that may inform teachers' observations of their students and their decisions about how best to support students' efforts. First, since ways of using written language vary with different social situations, the paper reviews research on how literacy functions in varied communities, including both the…

This paper presents practical classroom activities for teaching narrative/descriptive writing based on approaches to writing instruction that research indicates are powerfully effective, and discusses principles upon which effective and exciting instruction can be designed. The paper gives a brief overview of what research in the teaching of…

Through an original analysis of letters written by 8 students at 4 grade levels (grades 7 through 13), this paper shows the relationship between individual affective and cognitive development and social awareness. Specifically, their relationships are shown by analyzing the writer, the text, and the instructor. Results indicate that seventh grade…

A practicum provided 10th- grade students in 2 English honors classes with direct instruction in sentence combining. The goal of the program was to increase the syntactic complexity of student writing, to have students express more in each sentence. Instruction was approached from different aspects. The students worked with two textbooks on…

This study used a five-phased, multi-modal research design to develop a pedagogical plan for collaborative learning in freshman composition classrooms, a plan intended to improve student writing within a collaborative environment and be readily adaptable to a range of teaching contexts. The five-phased project used the following methods: (1)…

The personal journal has become a standard component of the writing curriculum, yet there is little research to support dramatic claims for its effectiveness. Journals, which differ from personal diaries or common notebooks, are associated with the "Neo-Platonist or Expressionist" approach to writing instruction, yet adherents of other…

Working collaboratively can be uncomfortable and bewildering, especially for developmental students. It is common for students to be anxious about their first experience with group work, and often they have a lot of questions about grading, cooperation, and what might happen if the group does not get along. The amount of time and variety of ways…

Addressing the issue of how people come to gain knowledge in the field of composition, this book is concerned with modes of inquiry--the whole series of steps an inquirer follows in making a contribution to a field of knowledge, and with methodological communities--groups of inquirers more or less united by their allegiance to one such mode of…

A study examined the relationships between the motivational variables of self-efficacy (the belief that one is capable of performing effectively) and outcome expectancies (contingency or causal dependency between actions and results) and performance in reading and writing. Subjects, 153 college students, completed measures of self-efficacy for…