The classroom-based research discussed in this article focuses on how elementary students' experiences with a collection of postmodern picturebooks developed their narrative competence. This article explores how 39 Grades 3 and 4 students' written and visual texts were affected by reading a particular selection of picturebooks. The students wrote…

This study examined the role of self-monitoring (SM) support for writing skill improvement in a reciprocal peer review of writing system called scaffolded writing and revision in the disciplines (SWoRD). Based on previous literature on the key role of SM in self-regulated learning, students were provided with opportunities to self-monitor their…

This study reported how ten Taiwanese Master's students perceived their experiences of receiving feedback given by their peers and writing consultants to revise a shortened version of their thesis proposals. Collected over the course of one semester, data included students' writing portfolios and interviews with them. Analysis of the data revealed…

Although portfolios in writing in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning are alternative tools, the portfolio process mainly concerns the decisions of language teachers rather than students' perceptions of portfolios. The present study aims to descriptively measure the perceptions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students towards…

English teachers have a unique opportunity to expand and develop the way their students think. Too often, students are comfortable in thinking about reading and writing processes in a concrete or linear way. They are used to "right" or "wrong" answers in their other studies and look for the same in their English assignments. While teachers often…

The famed playwright Harold Pinter, having just been introduced as a very good writer, was once asked by a six-year-old boy if he could do a "w." The author suspects that "w" was a difficult letter for this young man, and he judged the writing capability of others accordingly. This student's assumption--that being a "good…

Three perspectives on the redesign and implementation of a master's level social studies seminar are offered. Research-based writing was used to build information literacy skills and foster teachers' professionalism. Assessments indicate that students improved research and writing skills, increased their sense of teaching efficacy, and enhanced…

The paper provides case studies of how four faculty members who teach in undergraduate and graduate programs at the Indiana University School of Informatics promote academic literacy throughout the curriculum. The paper describes the writing assignments in several courses, the objectives of these assignments in enhancing the writing skills of…

Statistics show that American students' reading and writing skills are lagging at a time when literacy skills are needed more than ever. Efforts to address low adolescent literacy levels meet numerous challenges, chief among them is the fact that formal literacy instruction ends for most students after the elementary grades. Career and technical…

In this article, the author investigates whether an alternative grading system (contract grading) would yield the same final grades as traditional grading (letter grading), and whether or not it would be accepted by students. The author states that this study demonstrated that contract grading was widely, and for the most part, enthusiastically…

We examined whether an automated essay feedback system could improve the writing performance of college students. Students in a freshmen composition course received no feedback or varying amounts of formative feedback on their first drafts of three practice essays (none, intermittent, or continuous). The students wrote a first and then a revised…

This paper introduces the use of technology in the classroom and highlights the growing challenges and opportunities teachers face in its application. One specific technique, the use of teacher-made and annotated "YouTube" videos to preteach class-specific course content for English language learners is presented. These videos were…

In response to Oregon's Teacher Standards and Practices Commission requirement that all prospective teachers document samples of their work, the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) was developed during the 1980s at Western Oregon University. The TWS was conceptualized as a method to connect meaningful teaching and learning while documenting teacher…

Three-quarters of Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers say that the internet and digital search tools have had a "mostly positive" impact on their students' research habits, but 87% say these technologies are creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans" and 64% say today's digital…

Despite the increasing recognition of the need for critical perspectives in teaching English to speakers of other languages, critical literacy remains very much a marginalised practice. The implementation of critical literacy is still limited in English-as-a-second-language classrooms and is almost non-existent in English-as-a-foreign-language…