Reviews how background knowledge fits into a model of the expository writing process. Describes a project involving gifted seventh-grade students who increased their background knowledge about their chosen research paper topics in order to overcome some of the difficulty of expository writing. (RS)

Annotates 136 conference papers, journal articles, and doctoral dissertations from 1988 and 1989 dealing with research in the teaching of English. Includes sections on writing, language, literature, and teacher education. (RS)

Discusses first grade students' writing experiences and processes. Demonstrates, using student writing samples, how simple expression can lead to greater complexity with appropriate teacher guidance. Asserts that teachers must observe and take cues from students to determine what learning context and hints to provide. (MM)

Describes the effect of a language-rich program on a student repeating first grade and viewed as reading disabled. Concludes that the student experienced early and sustained success in reading and writing in the language- and meaning-centered program. (RS)

Demonstrates the complex social nature of literacy by examining research on the influence of social interactions on reading and writing development. Illustrates these findings with examples from the environment and activities of a kindergarten classroom. (MM)

Discusses the potential and the limitations of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) in the teaching of writing. Outlines the goals and significance of research, and analyzes the pedagogical assumptions underlying such research. Describes the architecture of these systems and illustrates instructional design issues by describing the ITS program,…

Presents a framework for examining the ways in which written texts are shaped by and related to the oral texts of classroom life. An ethnographic study of a bilingual sixth-grade class is described that examined the factors that affected what pairs of students writing a common social science text accomplished in face-to-face interactions. (MDM)

Focuses on the textual revisions involved in the creation of "successful" scientific research articles by nonnative novice researchers. A linguistic framework of text analysis and interpretive commentary show how the hard, norm-developing processes of interaction between inexperienced novice and expert writers in the scientific discourse…

Presents a study of the acquisition and development of information coordination ability. Examines students' composition of texts comparing two cultural groups after reading either one text describing both or a separate text on each. Concludes that older students used more complex information integration levels, whereas all subjects performed…

Presents study results on text revision strategies using a simplified word processor that records movements of linguistic units. Reports that adult subjects used the simultaneous strategy for correcting narrative and local-then-global strategy for correcting description whereas children used the local-then-global strategy for the narrative, but no…

Relationships between language, literacy, and school learning are investigated in a case study of a first grader. Examination of his journal-writing during a school year focuses on a two-month period in which he wrote almost exclusively about superheroes. An individual approach to sociolinguistic research on childhood learning is advocated. (48…

Examined the written responses of 13 teachers, who were making the transition toward using a process approach to writing instruction in their classes, to drafts composed by fourth graders. Findings provided information about how the teachers used language and what in the student drafts they focused on in their responses. (BB)

Asserts that the technique of "Stories at Work," or fictional-critical writing, is an emerging discipline within professional development and educational research. Discusses ways in which the technique can be used to enhance self-concept and improve teacher effectiveness. (CFR)

Annotates 146 conference papers, journal articles, and doctoral dissertations from 1989 and 1990 dealing with research in the teaching of English. Includes sections on writing, language, literature, and teacher education. (SR)

A graduate university workshop on action research helped kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers improve their approach to teaching writing. The article examines classroom research as staff development and introduces one action research plan, giving an example of one teacher's use of the plan to improve instructional writing practice. (SM)