Argues that, through its style, scientific communication conveys a view of the world as the causal interaction of physical objects and events. Claims that, to teach students to write experimental reports, composition teachers must see and study matters of style and organization as parts of a world they cannot enter or influence without knowledge…

Presents writing warm-up activities to help elementary students develop and polish their language skills. The warm-up activities focus on detail, descriptive dialog, memory writing, titles, punctuation, and vocabulary enhancement. The activities provide choices, present important ideas, and foster collaboration, responsibility, and trial and error…

Assesses the relative influences of education, social environment, and current activities on the practical literacy of young adults in the United States. Shows that both early experience and current activities powerfully influence young-adult literacy and that early environmental advantages yield subsequent advantages that lead to wide disparities…

Discusses how to successfully integrate revision into an elementary writing program. Describes preconditions for revision and principles for revision. Presents three drafts of a student's story. (SR)

Reviews research supporting the use of writing to develop reading ability, highlighting findings that writing exercises improve reading comprehension, recall, and retention of texts. (PAA)

Describes two writing activities for primary grade students to complete at home with the help of their parents. (MG)

Argues that reading has dominance over writing in the academy and that this imbalance is unnecessary. Explores the site of conflict between reading and writing. Suggests how to end this conflict and thereby create a more productive interaction between reading and writing. (HB)

Questions the ability of composition studies to empower students to resist authority. Analyzes the recent paradigm shifts within composition studies from a perspective informed by Michel Foucault. Discusses classroom design, process pedagogies, and the construction of the field of composition as bringing increased student visibility. (HB)

Suggestions for structuring a classroom spelling program are offered, focusing on three major components: personal spelling lists, word study and vocabulary extension, and studying and mastering the core vocabulary of written English. The 300 most frequent words in New Zealand primary writing and the 100 most often misspelled words are listed.…

Examines the primary and not exclusively Aristotelian sources from which a more adequate concept of the enthymeme can be derived. Considers the relevance of that concept to the analysis of modern discourse. Analyzes works by Martin Luther King, Jr., and Roland Barthes as examples of enthymeming. (HB)

Finds greater interference for words than for single letters and letter-clusters in elementary students. Finds a developmental trend from relative skill in word-level orthographic-phonological correspondence in second graders to relative skill in subword-level correspondences in sixth graders. Notes that multiple orthographic codes were correlated…

Discusses a process to guide technical writers engaged in writing a script for a video production on a technical subject. Offers an example of the development of such a script from a video demonstrating a surgical procedure. (SR)

Research indicates that students with learning disabilities may experience significant difficulty with taking notes during teacher lectures. Approaches for helping students include task accommodations (such as taping the lectures or purchasing notes) and notetaking skill/strategy instruction (such as paraphrasing, outlining, using abbreviations,…

Questions the role of argumentation in the college composition classroom. Studies the responses of a variety of students to three sample arguments that address the same topic. Shows that most students can correctly rank arguments, suggesting that students have a tacit knowledge of argument prior to instruction. (HB)

Discusses techniques and lessons used to assist students in reading with a writer's eye, observing the world with a writer's eye, and developing the craft of writing, including the writer's notebook; grabber leads; show, not tell; unforgettable language; and voice. Notes that developing a community of writers is essential to the successful use of…