A study of the writing abilities of high school and college students in Florida uncovered specific problem areas in teaching and curriculum design. Recommendations for alleviating writing deficiencies of high school students before they get to the university include a writing training program for prospective and inservice high school teachers,…

The development of alternative instructional activities for use in the basic writing classroom and a description and analysis of four levels of basic writing are the results of a study of basic writing teaching techniques. The linguistic concepts of immediate and transferred utterances and nominal-verbal pairing, and the work of L. Vygotsky on…

This bibliography includes materials for educators who are concerned with assessment of basic speaking and listening skills and is categorized as follows: (1) speech rating scales; (2) listening; (3) functional communication; (4) bilingual education; (5) reviews of tests and instruments; (6) materials on practices in states and local districts;…

A total of 69 college freshmen, all on academic probation, were involved in an examination of the effects of expressive writing practice upon students' reading, self-esteem, attitudes toward instruction, and academic achievement. An experimental group consisting of 35 students followed a writing/reading curriculum, while a control group of 34…

This pamphlet is the last in a series of ten stemming from the view that language is central to learning, that teachers can gain insights into their work and into learning by examining the language of the classroom, and that current language theory can be the means to such insights. It contains a discussion of some of the theoretical positions…

IN THIS COLLECTION OF SIX SPEECHES FROM THE YALE CONFERENCE, EACH AUTHOR DISCUSSES THE MEANINGS OF SPECIFIC WORKS OR IDEAS IMPORTANT TO ENGLISH TEACHING. SPEECHES ARE BY (1) SCOTT ELLEDGE, WHO PROPOSES COMPOSITION ASSIGNMENTS WHICH ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO "EXPLAIN" IMAGINATIVELY, (2) JAMES FOLSOM, WHO DISCUSSES THE WAYS IN WHICH A SHARPENED…

THE ASSOCIATION OF DEPARTMENTS OF ENGLISH COLLECTED INFORMATION FROM DIRECTORS OF FRESHMAN ENGLISH FOR A REPORT ON COLLEGE PROGRAMS IN FRESHMAN COMPOSITION. THE FIRST SECTION OF THE REPORT, A DISCUSSION OF TRENDS IN FRESHMAN COMPOSITION, INDICATES THAT LINGUISTICS AND THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE HAVE NOT BECOME A PART OF THE FRESHMAN ENGLISH CURRICULUM.…

FOR A REPORT ON COLLEGE PROGRAMS IN FRESHMAN COMPOSITION, THE ASSOCIATION OF DEPARTMENTS OF ENGLISH OBTAINED SYLLABI AND COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM DIRECTORS OF FRESHMAN COMPOSITION AT 66 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. AMONG THE DATA ASSEMBLED FOR THE FULL REPORT (AVAILABLE AS TE 500 190) ARE THE DESCRIPTIONS OF FRESHMAN ENGLISH PROGRAMS AT TWELVE…

The language the Negro child brings with him to school has a linguistic structure which is clearly distinguishable from that of standard English. His language is not a defective form of speech. There is, however, what Labov calls, "reciprocal ignorance," a mutual lack of comprehension for the other's language system. Writing is a secondary symbol…

In this collection of 18 essays drawn from reports of the Yale Conferences on the Teaching of English, high school teachers present ways to handle problems relevant to all English classrooms. Essays on the teaching of language include a discussion of grammar, a definition and illustration of language study, and a consideration of the kinds of…

Attempts to combine language and composition in the freshman English course at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota) should interest all teachers of English. One project utilized a single key word for several assignments. Students were asked to (1) think through the meaning of the word for a week and write definitions and associations,…

To supplement an experiment at the University of Northern Iowa on the effectiveness of college-level instruction in freshman composition, the University of Iowa conducted its own experiment on the evaluation of freshman composition. This experiment was designed to determine (1) which method of rating papers is more reliable--the "general…

This University of Nebraska study proposed to discover (1) the types of changes occurring in syntax as children mature, (2) the age at which children begin to use certain structures in their writing, (3) the differences in syntax between children's and adult's writing, (4) the relationship between syntactic patterns and intellectual ability, and…

The composition teacher in the primary grades should emphasize content and ideas, not form and properly written expression, to develop the students' interest in writing. By surrounding the students with fine literature, by presenting them with model stories to imitate, and by letting them make up alternate endings and illustrations for stories,…

This paper demonstrates the compatability of Aristotle's Four Causes (material, formal, efficient, and final) and George Campbell's Four Forms of Discourse (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) and synthesizes them to form an ordered yet flexible writing model that can be used in composition instruction. Within the context of…