Reports findings from interviews conducted with four inexperienced writing students and one experienced writer regarding their awareness of external and internal audiences guiding their writing. Most inexperienced writers perceived only external audiences (e.g., teacher-as-audience), although one inexperienced writer and the experienced writer…

Looks at three-year-old children's writing samples as a basis to discuss developmental stages in writing. Samples are categorized as scribbling, horizontal scribbling, discrete units, letters, or correct spelling. Practical applications of these stages are presented for teachers. (PCB)

Examines whether prerequisite relationships exist between five analytical components of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) composition: content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. Finds the need for an approach to writing which recognizes that "separate skills" are actually highly interrelated. (MM)

Twenty-one learning-disabled eighth and eleventh graders wrote essays and answered a questionnaire concerning metacognition. Subjects were comparable to normally achieving sixth graders in their essays' interestingness, clarity in communication of goals, word choice, paragraph structure, and metacognition about the writing process. (Author/JDD)

Provides an artistic prewriting activity to help students design the characters in the stories they write. (MG)

Reflects on play as a context for teachers' assessment of young children's emerging literacy behavior and upon alternate assessment procedures in the context of play. (MG)

Discusses the advantages of keeping a class log. Describes how to write a log and provides tables for directions and evaluation. (YP)

An analysis is provided of the belief that theories developed about literacy within different academic disciplines and development campaigns have been built around contradictory assumptions. The conclusion is made that research is needed in order to make literacy instruction more functional in adult literacy programs. (109 references) (GLR)

Shares a conversation between a second-grade student and teacher during a prewriting conference. Emphasizes that, in order to become writers, students need to do their own writing. (MG)

A pedagogical strategy is described for teaching undergraduates educational philosophy. The strategy is based on the need to increase the amount of classroom time devoted to development of students' analytical skills and facilitate students' generation of written statements of educational philosophy. (CB)

Summarizes the subject matter presented by an American teacher visiting the University of Paris in a two-week seminar on technical writing. Identifies the following topics: style of technical writing, oral presentation of technical information, nonverbal communication during interviews, preparation of resumes, and writing for publication. (KEH)

Draws on concept learning research to address the problem of grammatical explanations that may be perfectly clear to the teacher or textbook writer but that leave students groping for help. Describes problems that students have in learning grammatical concepts, and provides strategies to overcome those problems. (RS)

Asserts that basic writers must learn to consciously manage written patterns to become better writers. Reviews six studies focusing on lexical and syntactic differences between written and spoken English, and suggests focal points for teaching writing patterns to basic writers. Examines two case studies which demonstrate writing pattern…

Presents a technique called the rhetorical precis, a highly structured four sentence paragraph that records the essential rhetorical elements of a unit of spoken or written discourse. Argues that this form reinforces learning, reading, questioning, and evaluating course material. (RS)

Writing an effective letter or memorandum should not be difficult. Suggestions on how to write more effectively are presented including: think about the audience, make an outline, use conversational language, think typographically, and read it aloud. (MLW)