Describes an assignment in which students must integrate writing and negotiation skills with proposal development. Notes that many students have been able to share their problem-solving skills by implementing their proposal at their workplace. Notes students liked the opportunity to select a topic of interest to them. (SG)

Discusses assessment of English-as-a-Foreign/Second-Language (EFL/ESL) writing. Suggests there is a considerable gap between current practices in writing assessment and criteria suggested by advances in knowledge of discourse structure. Illustrates this by contrasting current practices in the scoring of two major EFL/ESL writing tests with…

Examines eight key issues in training journalists. Argues: journalism educators should still be teaching the basic journalism skills that are of practical use in the marketplace; they should not show an exaggerated interest in the Ph.D. research that attracts so much coveted university funding; and they must try to put the interests and needs of…

Addresses how online instructors can improve their email communications with students. Describes the characteristics and demands of online instruction as depending on the instructor's ability to communicate in writing. Presents a model to guide instructors in their online communications. Underscores the importance of instructors' writing skills in…

Discusses desirable characteristics of instructors or coaches and provides an evaluation checklist. Explains four main categories to consider: knowledge of the subject matter; communication skills, both written and oral; the ability to model desired behaviors; and the ability to detect and avoid creating unnecessary obstacles between the learner…

Describes one student's writing project and how it develops in a writing program. Notes that his story focuses on the Holocaust and was inspired by reading over 15 books on the topic. (SG)

Analyzes students enrolled in a college developmental reading class and their use of critical literacy techniques to improve reading and writing skills. Considers three areas of students' progress: reading and writing connections, language and vocabulary, and purposes for reading. Stresses the importance of introduction and mastery of these areas…

Learning to read. Reading to learn. These two goals are largely the business of schools. Reading to learn requires comprehension. It also requires the ability to organize written material for the purpose of remembering it. This organizational ability also is useful when writing reports. These issues are addressed in this article through a study of…

An English teacher has revived a concept from classical rhetoric and has shown how delivery is the key to authentic writing. The students are engaged in writing process, knowing that their letters and proposals will be read by real audiences, and are further encouraged by seeing the positive results of their well-presented ideas.

The results of an action research project that was designed to explore what lessons could be learned from using an innovative strategy to help high school students write more authentically are described. A number of factors that led to the students' success are cited and examples of the poems are included that resulted from this innovative…

Various studies revealed the ineffectiveness of direct grammar instruction to produce better writers. However, a high school teacher finds that explaining grammar rules provides students with tools for building complex thoughts and expressing themselves more elaborately.

The aim of our study was to investigate possible relationships between writing and drawing performance of school-aged children, in order to compare the two skills at the within-individual level. The sample consisted of 182 right- and left-handed children, aged 8 to 12 years. Children were examined by the Greek adaptation of the Luria-Nebraska…

In this article, we present secondary students' perceptions of their writing and writing instruction. Using the NCTE/IRA Standards as the foundation for a survey, we questioned nearly 2,000 public-school students concerning what they wrote, how they wrote, and the extent to which they wrote in their language arts classes. We chose Florida as our…

This study addressed two questions related to the writing of second graders ("n"=195). The first examined the effects of writing prompts on the compositional fluency of second-grade students. The second considered whether these effects are different based on spelling achievement and handwriting fluency. Students wrote six narratives in response to…

This year marks the 15th year of a program called "Professors as Writers" at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The first meeting was a half-day workshop at the end of a spring semester to help faculty launch the writing they wanted to do over the summer. The program has grown over the years and now includes monthly retreats, as…