The theme of this issue of the "Connecticut English Journal" is poetry instruction. Numerous ideas, examples, programs, and resources are offered to help students and teachers learn to read, analyze, write, and enjoy poems. The 28 articles and poems provide interpretations of what poetry is, ideas for publishing student writing, strategies for…

A "naturalistic" study of eight college students enrolled in a freshman writing class was conducted to determine what variables are critical to the learning process. After observing and tape recording four individual conferences with each of the students, the recorded transcripts were analyzed to determine the one or two main concerns…

A genre approach to teaching the argumentative essay in composition classes has been developed. The need for this approach emanated from problems associated with the other methods of teaching persuasive discourse, such as the logical/analytic, content/problem solving, and rhetorical/generative approaches. The genre approach depends on the…

Integrating reading theory and instructional techniques into the composition classroom helps students improve both their reading and writing skills. Students should be evaluated early by combining diagnostic samples of their reading and writing to determine their ability to recognize organizational relationships and their facility with reading…

A study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of a new rhetoric program of composition instruction for secondary school students. The lessons used in the program were designed to provide students with a step-by-step procedure for moving from a topic sentence to a unified, coherent paragraph. Using the primacy of the topic sentence, they led…

One way to help basic writers become more effective writers is to encourage them to consider and write about what they do in writing--the problems they face and the satisfactions they glean. Using a scheme that involves using a hierarchy of stages of abstraction in discourse, students can be led to development of their writing skills. One such…

This paper offers a model to be followed by students completing a writing assignment. The model, designed originally for writing students at two-year colleges, prescribes the number of paragraphs and the content of each paragraph. Suggested topic assignments are offered, and an example of the use of the model is provided. Four steps are proposed…

To mimic as closely as possible successful classroom procedures, NCTE convention speakers should be assigned topics one hour before their sessions, with only the rhetorical form specified. The audience should shout evaluative comments during presentation and the recorder should interrupt at each spelling and punctuation error. A final grade should…

Scientists have no difficulty defining their disciplines by subject matter and methodology, but humanists, however much they agree on the subject matter of the humanities, have no consensus about methodology. In the twentieth century truce resulting from the assumption that there can be no coexistence between the two, scientists and humanists are…

Prewriting exercises such as outlines, successive drafts, or free writing are not helpful to students from oral cultures who are unfamiliar with the writing process. Speaking as a rehearsal technique for writing can help nontraditional students formulate and organize ideas before starting the first draft. Speaking as a rehearsal for writing…

The seven articles in this journal issue focus on the teaching of writing beyond the required college freshman composition courses. The articles provide the following: (1) a discussion of ways to teach transferable and local writing skills, (2) arguments for and against the use of tape-recorded comments rather than written comments to respond to…

The number of college students in technical writing classes has grown at least tenfold since 1969. This dramatic increase has occurred partly because of the practicality and power inherent in technical writing and partly because of the increased need for technical writing skills by people in today's change workforce. As developed countries shift…

An analysis of the social and political context of English teaching in Australia is presented in this paper. The paper emphasizes that the leading theorists from England such as James Britton, Harold Rosen, Nancy Martin, and Douglas Barnes, are providing theories that either ignore or misinterpret the social reality in which teachers and pupils…

A focus on letter writing in composition classes can eliminate the problem of writing to the teacher as audience, as well as function as a strategy for teaching the elements of rhetoric. Letters in the context of the rhetorical process have historical precedent. In the Middle Ages, because of the necessity for official and ceremonious letters,…

Frequently, writing students are so concerned with correct grammar and mechanics that their essays are stilted and dry. Their writing is further hampered by rhetorical formulas that describe what the structure of the essay should be when it is finished but not how to go about writing it. Can poetic invention strategies help produce better essays?…