Experience in teaching composition at every level, from seventh grade to advanced writing courses intended for college sophomores, reveals one common problem--lack of specificity. Hillocks discusses this problem and suggests that it can be surmounted by involving students in the process of observing, encouraging them to draw inferences from their…

This paper discusses several definitions of "intelligence" and "mind," concluding that the composing process which involves writing words requires the same acts of mind as the composing process by which we make sense of the world. Based on this assumption, several objectives are offered for developing composition courses for students with learning…

As one of four options under English 105 at Western Michigan University, the course "Writing and Science" is intended to help students become better communicators as they enter college. The first assignments are in technical writing--descriptions of a mechanism, a process or a mechanism in operation, and a behavior. Emphasis in these exercises is…

The intention of this book is to introduce college students to the genre of poetry from the writer's point of view by presenting them with the same problems that aspiring poets encounter as they develop into accomplished poets. The book proceeds from some general observations to simple exercises, and then to more complex exercises, with many…

To discover if slides of portrait paintings could be used in training students to be more visually perceptive and consequently to increase specificity in their descriptive writing, pairs of classes (one control, one experimental--totaling 148 sophomore students) of three high school teachers were exposed to the principle of specificity through…

The general procedures used to develop educational objectives for the National Assessment of Educational Progress are outlined, as are the procedures used to develop writing objectives. Four objectives related to writing skills are stated: "write to communicate adequately in a social situation"; "write to communicate adequately in a…

One of a series prepared by the Hawaii Newspaper Agency, this teaching guide suggests ways of publishing a paper and discusses the skills the youngsters learn in the process. Emphasis is placed on developing the right setting, learning the history of the paper, and acquiring some background in writing. Such sections of the paper as the front page…

This preliminary investigation grew out of the Project English study of written composition at the University of Georgia from 1963 through 1968. Toward the end of that project, attention was given to possible relationships between the quality of written composition and certain syntactic measures in student writing produced in schools using the…

Recent theories that composition instruction should focus on the writing process rather than on the product have proven valid. A corollary, or a result, of this development has been the growing attacks on grades and grading. While evaluation provides effective instruction, grading is of limited relevance and may be misleading and harmful without…

Summaries are given of the results of a two-year feasibility study of the effectiveness of the lay-reader program in helping students improve their writing skills. The findings of the two-year study show that: (1) there was no significant difference statistically among students who had lay reader service and those who had participated in other…

This teacher-aid book discusses: (1) Setting the Creative Climate; (2) Description; (3) Writing Stories; (4) Writing Poetry; (5) Creative Writing Projects; and (6) Maintaining the Creative Climate. A short bibliography of works that are either folk tales or poetry is given. (DB)

Two different teaching methods were compared for their effectiveness on the writing skill and attitudes of twelfth graders. The sample included 135 randomly assigned students in six classes of an elective precollege writing course, with no significant differences between the students on the basis of ability or attitude. Traditionally oriented…

Described is the creativity center program, part of Project Gifted, an educational program for gifted intermediate grade children. The report pertains specifically to the Warwick Public Schools in Rhode Island. The program is described to give gifted children opportunity and encouragement in their academic and personal development. The program…

This study explores growth in written composition in the community college by using a group-devised scoring key to score pre- and post-compositions. The study was conducted in three community colleges in Southern California with each student's writing ability being measured by pre- and post-compositions written during the first and last weeks of…

In order to assess various reading and writing abilities of adults, for comparison with corresponding abilities of pupils in grades 7 through 12, and to investigate the extent to which adults' reading and writing abilities can be regarded as satisfactory, answers to a series of tests and questionnaire data were obtained from random samples of…