A study investigated whether computers would enable students to develop individual working writing environments. The programs that the fourth-grade students used were Hypercard, Clip Art, and MacWrite. Students worked with each of the programs and talked about what they were thinking while using the computer. A constant flow of teachers, staff,…

Looking in depth at the curricular and instructional framework of a student-centered classroom, this book describes learning strategies in detail and illustrates with student samples that demonstrate how portfolios can assist students in reflective self-evaluation. The book chronicles the experiences of two teachers over their three years of…

A study was designed to identify and codify behavioral trends in the composing process of early writers' narrative attempts in literate environment instructional settings. The study also examined regressive patterns within behavioral responses to determine how development in one area of the writing task influenced the development in other areas.…

This learning module is intended to improve the writing and business communications skills of individuals working in health care occupations. The module, which is designed to be presented in a 6-week course of twice weekly 2-hour sessions, targets an audience with basic grammar and punctuation skills but no formal introduction to the process of…

Developed for two grade 8 English classes in a large metropolitan high school in British Columbia (Canada), this paper presents the procedures for implementing and evaluating a 6-week unit on lifewriting, the composing of stories based on personal experience. The Lifewriting Curriculum is provided--six lessons including activities in which…

This paper suggests that composition instructors must prepare their students for the ways in which the Information Superhighway affects professional and academic communication. Students must now be proficient in techniques of composing such as hypertext and the recursive writing process to perform various writing and research tasks as a…

It is necessary to continue efforts to adapt the composition curriculum to the diverse needs of the student population. The writing process, even if seen as recursive, varies from student to student and from situation to situation. Students must also be shown that the very conventions and forms of academic writing are culturally situated. The…

This paper describes the process of "contemplation writing" for one urban sixth-grade class. The paper describes the daily give-and-take between teacher and students, relates the way in which the teacher instructed his students about how to concentrate and observe before the writing process actually began, discusses the writings that…

The job of teachers of composition is to teach students how to write, and what they teach them to write is the school essay. Yet, if they stop to see the school essay for what it really is, they will discover that for all their humanistic claims of wanting to give students voices, the genre is one that actually works to exclude many of these…

This handbook for teachers of English explores the development of writing skills in an academic context. The book is intended for teachers working in situations where students are required to produce reports, essays, dissertations and other forms of academic writing in English. The book's first section examines the writing process and establishes…

Reading and writing are commonly seen as parallel processes of composing meaning, employing similar cognitive and linguistic strategies. Research has begun to examine ways in which knowledge of content and strategies contribute to the construction of meaning in reading and writing. The metaphor of mining can provide a useful and descriptive means…

A study investigated one dimension of metacognition--the knowledge of cognition--in first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing. Subjects were 20 students (10 L1 and 10 L2) in a first level college writing course. A questionnaire elicited subjects' definitions of good writing, their notions of the constituent features of the writing…

A study examined the effectiveness of the Writing to Read Program as implemented in the East Gibson School Corporation by comparing scores on locally designed, teacher constructed reading and writing tests of students in the program with scores of those students exposed to traditional instruction. Subjects, 71 kindergarten students and 65 first…

A practicum sought to improve student writing and student attitude towards writing through a performance-based assessment which featured peer and teacher conferencing, holistic grading, and publication of material written by students. The practicum involved seventh and eighth graders and five teachers who instituted all aspects of the writing…

This packet summarizes the ideas, concepts, suggestions, and speculations growing out of a think tank which explored the uncharted region beyond cognitive learning. The packet contains: (1) an alphabetical list of 1991 and 1992 participants; (2) a list of participants' interests according to key terms; (3) summaries of small group discussions…