Reaffirms the findings of previous studies: business communication instructors do not agree on the grades they assign student writing. Reports that instructors identify a variety of criteria for grading, tend to use a consistent terminology when analyzing student writing, but this consistent terminology does not guarantee consistent evaluation.…

Suggests that teaching students to achieve coherence involves teaching them what it means to plan and to move up and down a hierarchy of abstraction as well as teaching them to build cohesive links into their writing. Describes a program for teaching coherence. (RL)

The use to and by 40 hearing impaired students (3 to 18 years old) of speech, signs, fingerspelling, writing, gestures, American Sign Language, and pictures was investigated. Findings of a nationwide study were combined with local data to make recommendations for a program concentrating on modes, usage, flexibility, and cognitive/linguistic…

Notes how the guest lecture portion of a team-taught writing course for engineers produced the need to teach the students listening skills. Describes class activities that ensure student development of writing, listening, and speaking skills in conjunction with the lecture series. (RL)

Describes writing exercises that release students' imaginative powers and help their news writing become fresher and more descriptive. (RL)

Offers a series of exercises designed to facilitate both discovery of content and its development into a written draft. (FL)

Suggests that debate training might help correct written and oral communication deficiencies of college students. Discusses a course in debates in public policy with regard to evaluating student presentations before and after the course. Findings indicated that students improved significantly in organization, idea development, poise, and assurance…

Tells how children's performances on informal spelling and writing tasks can be analyzed to develop appropriate instructional activities. Argues that the real utility of assessment procedures comes from the qualitative interpretation that a sensitive diagnostician makes, based on a knowledge of the student and of the process of reading. (AEA)

Describes in detail a magazine article writing course, including textbooks, teaching units, goals and objectives, teaching resources, and specific assignments. Tells how the course emphasizes preparation of a marketable skill. (AEA)

Notes that real (purposeful) writing about literature can be achieved by capitalizing on student responses to the literary experience, whether these responses are positive or negative. Offers suggestions for giving direction to students' unstructured responses. (RL)

The article describes the Diagnostic Evaluation of Writing Skills (DEWS), a diagnostic teaching tool containing criteria of assessment to determine a student's deficiencies in reading and writing. (DLS)

Suggests that the teaching of skills should be a major goal of all social studies courses. Presents a list of activities which help to develop skills such as gathering and sharing information. (KC)

Reviews research on the relationship between the receptive language arts skills (reading and listening), on the relationship between the expressive skills (writing and speaking), and on the relationships between receptive and expressive skills. Reports on teaching materials that reflect these interrelationships. (RL)

Describes a computer-based instructional management program, Response System with Variable Prescriptions (RSVP), that assists instructors in freshman composition courses in providing individualized feedback to their students. RSVP also keeps records of students' writing and instructors' feedback activities. (MER)

The effect of context on the scoring of essays was examined by arranging that the scoring of the criterion essay would be preceded either by five superior essays or by five inferior essays. The contrast in essay quality had the hypothesized effect. Other effects were not significant. (CTM)