To demonstrate how one might go beyond mechanical errors to describe, measure, and evaluate student writing as communication, several evaluation procedures were applied to a brief writing protocol submitted by an adolescent learning disabled student. (Author/DLS)

The author suggests that educators are not using enough nonprint materials or are not using them correctly. She lists inexpensive nonprint materials in the areas of reading, writing, and computation which are worth previewing. (KC)

The North Bay Area Writing Project at Sonoma State University (California) is an inservice program designed to train teachers and improve their effectiveness in writing instruction. (JM)

Examines the effectiveness of a composition class focusing on the relationship between reading and writing. Contains excerpts of student dialog about sex, color, and gender. (TB)

Investigates specific writing skills of both native and nonnative business students to see whether traditional instruction in grammar prepares students for business communication classes and the corporate world. Finds that, although most students passed objective grammar and punctuation tests (and the two groups showed no statistical differences),…

Two studies of intermediate grade students with and without learning and writing disabilities evaluated the Self-Regulated Strategy Development model in teaching students how to plan persuasive essays before and during composing. Instructional effects were investigated using different research designs, in different settings, and with different…

A variety of formats for writing news articles and announcements on a variety of common topics (current events, cultural events, sports, surveys, interviews, travelogs, and classified advertising) is presented in fill-in-the-blank form. Suggestions are offered for using these formats to teach French usage at all levels. (MSE)

Describes an approach for using portfolio evaluations with developmental students. Indicates that it includes a system for analyzing and practicing five areas of writing: form, function, authorial attitude, method of development, and point of view. Reviews benefits of the approach and provides charts of portfolio activities. (AJL)

Describes the use of computers for grading assignments in beginning and intermediate reporting and writing programs at Texas A&M University. Indicates that students store assignments on a computer network, where the instructor can access them to grade them. Describes techniques for making electronic corrections clear and provides sample…

Provides a model unit of study for the use of legal cases in writing courses. Shares reasons for the success of this approach. (TB)

Rearticulates the relationship of the writing center to institutions by attempting to address the gap between theorizing about differences in higher education and working with differences in the writing center. Discusses why so little is heard from writing centers in composition forums, and why writing centers are such contested sites on so many…

Offers the author's own assessment or perspective on the usefulness of Fredric Jameson's work to the field of composition studies. Discusses his work on postmodernism. Explores in more detail the "pedagogical" functions of art Jameson hints at in his postmodernism work. (TB)

Explores three aspects of evaluation: to find value in the content of writing; to promote writing growth (as children learn to evaluate themselves as writers and generate possible goals and strategies to attain them); and to rethink the role of teachers who value themselves as learners. (SR)

Explains how an English teacher settled into an unproductive, formulaic approach to teaching writing and how he reformed himself and his teaching through a discovery of the processes involved in writing. Describes exercises and notebooks that furthered his new "process" approach to teaching writing. (TB)

Puts forth a plan for raising student consciousness about audience through peer evaluation sessions. Targets three areas of effective autobiographical writing: an engaging opening; focus; and showing, not telling. Discusses grading rubrics for these categories appropriate for student readers. (TB)