This paper discusses reasons for combining the composition and speech courses required of college freshmen. Observations about the traditional division of speech and composition instruction indicate that teachers with less experience are merely giving students "busy work" to exercise skills those students should have prior to college enrollment,…

In contrast to many books that outline in a general way the "best" method for teaching composition and that suggest a few exercises to implement it, this guidebook on expository writing attempts to be comprehensive and emphasizes practicality. Chapters deal with how to organize a composition program, how to mark student papers, and how to teach…

During each fall quarter, some of the freshman English sections at Georgia Institute of Technology are taught by an experimental track method. The mechanics of English composition are categorized into specific areas of competence; these categories form the basis for three tracks, taught simultaneously throughout the quarter. Students are assigned…

The University of Minnesota's rhetoric department surveyed other Big Ten universities for the procedures used by those schools to exempt students from the required freshmen writing course and analyzed data about students in their own required rhetoric courses (Rhetoric 1101/1102). The school survey shows that nine Big Ten schools have required…

This paper discusses strategies for teaching college composition, emphasizing "mechanical-meaningful-communicative" (M-M-C) sequencing. Under the M-M-C sequence, a student performs the following exercises: mechanical exercises, which build success in stimulus-response learning; meaningful exercises, which provide stimuli for problem-solving tasks;…

This booklet is a collection of Mullah Nasruddin tales that are commonly enjoyed in Afghanistan. These tales have been adapted to form a course in controlled composition for students studying English as a foreign language. After reading each tale the student is asked to carry out certain tasks. In addition to the simplest task, copying the passage…

Five articles examine outdoor experiential learning for the handicapped. Articles have the following titles and authors: "The Minnesota Outward Bound School and the Physically Disabled" (S. Kaplan); "Breaking the Cycle of Failure through Experiential Education" (R. Burton, B. Blakey); "Hiking with Troubled Kids" (K.…

Competency in the three skills areas of reading, writing, and mathematics is a requirement for high school graduation in the state of New York. The writing competency requirement consists of two tests: the Preliminary Competency Test in Writing, given to students in the eighth or ninth grade, and the Regents Competency Test in Writing, given to…

The Santa Fe Community College (Gainesville, Florida) offers courses to prepare students for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The two classes--one intermediate and one advanced--meet three times a week for three hours each session. Grammar explanations are presented during the first two classes each week, and students are offered…

A review of the literature reveals that three writing skills have been of particular interest to writing researchers recently. First, work on planning the rhetorical strategy recognizes three components of the planning process: prewriting, pausing, and reviewing what has been written. Second, research on audience analysis indicates that maturity…

Providing both a rationale and a syllabus for a basic course in communication skills for college students training to be teachers, this paper explains why such elements as training in audiovisual aids and writing instruction were left out of the basic course and placed in elective courses. It then presents a detailed discussion of the topics…

The document contains work sheets and score sheets for a curriculum designed for visually impaired students at the prereadiness (prekindergarten), readiness (kindergarten), and academic (primary grades) levels. Work sheets include pictures, word lists, sentence exercises, mathematics problems, and diagrams. Score sheets, which correspond to the…

Focusing on ways to integrate the components of the language arts curriculum, this guide provides a framework for use in curriculum development. The guide offers a statement of philosophy that views the language arts curriculum as an integrated program involving the interactive processes of composing (through speaking, writing, and visual…

A survey of student writing in every subject and grade in a Canadian secondary school involved 117 students over a nine-day period and investigated the amount of writing done in all subjects and the variety of purpose and audience in student writing. Results showed that each student produced an average of two written pieces per day, that one out…

The Survival Skills Center described in this report operates at Columbia College, CA, to provide individualized instruction in basic reading, writing, and math skills using a series of modules which focus on problems commonly encountered in everyday life. After discussing the need for such instruction among nontraditional students, the paper…