At the University of Rhode Island, instructors in English and other disciplines are looking critically at the writing program. At present that program offers a range of basic, intermediate and advanced undergraduate writing classes--courses that are grounded in at least two sets of assumptions that deserve scrutiny. The first set of assumptions…

Insofar as students gain clarity by writing statements of belief and meaning, the expressive mode is a vehicle for learning. By expressing in writing their reaction to a bewildering experience, a current dilemma, or a troublesome conflict, for example, they are better able to broaden their views on this personal predicament. The expressive mode…

A semi-annual refereed publication of research and instructional practices in English/language arts and allied fields, preschool through adult levels, this volume of "Maryland English Journal" presents articles on a variety of subjects and showcases the work of young writers. Articles in volume 28, number 1 focus on ethnographic studies…

In carrying out a successful writing workshop, careful attention must be given to the proper role and function of the teacher. Research indicates the power of extended peer response to writing and the benefits of writers talking with their peers about their writing. To construct more specific guidelines for the function of teachers in writing…

In the past few years, a number of theorists who advocate the study of difference have been debating the purposes and priorities of this approach to educational practice. Investigating values and ethics, particularly issues of race, gender and class, should do more than encourage students to deconstruct dominant ideologies. Tensions inherent in…

A college English professor applied for and received a grant to equip a 20-station networked computer classroom designed to provide a site for state-of-the-art pedagogy in teaching English using computers. The networked computer classroom has two related goals: to provide a setting for the preservice and inservice training of English and language…

A series of five studies examined factors that influence how students respond to questions on a writing apprehension test. In the first study, the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test was administered 4 times to 34 students in 2 freshman composition classes. Conventional scoring of test results were inconclusive--the total score for all students…

One way to help teachers know how to give better assistance to students is to have students analyze their papers in a letter or memo attached to their essays. In one class, such memos are called "Learning from your own writing process," and typically describe: (1) what the student was trying to do; (2) what seemed to work or not work in…

Beliefs about distinct differences between expressive and academic discourse unnecessarily complicate the teaching of writing. A composition pedagogy which fails to attend to the complications arising from the rhetorical aspect of language leads to the promotion of reasoning as separable from context. Reasoning then becomes a skill to be learned…

A study examined the changing conceptions about the writing instruction of three teachers who participated in the Teachers College Writing Project. Three New York City elementary school teachers were selected from a larger sample of 10 teachers who participated in a larger study of the same project. The teachers were selected because they had…

Writing labs should utilize the knowledge gained from a variety of fields to enhance further their programs, particularly with regard to the study of nonverbal communication. Regardless of the sincerity and importance of the tutor's suggestions, nonverbal messages often are sent to the student which undermine the session. Various channels of…

This book presents a history of writing instruction outside general composition courses in American secondary and higher education, from the founding of the public secondary school system and research universities in the 1870s through the spread of the writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) movement in the 1980s. The book examines the ways writing…

During school year 1991-92, the Whole Language Network (WLN) expanded to include 90 teachers in grades kindergarten through six in three school districts participating in the New York City Board of Education's Comprehensive Instructional Management System-Communication Arts project. The Network assisted teachers in using the whole language…

The diverse student body at Illinois Central College has an average age of 30. For such students, life-long learning equips them to move beyond provincial aspects of their own communities and to place value on other heritages as well. To reach the diversity of the students found in the community college composition classroom, teachers need to…

Combining instruction in critical thinking and expository writing with the study of classic texts, this textbook was developed at Baker University (Kansas) and is designed for use in a two-semester college course that fosters careful thinking and good reasoning in students. The textbook emphasizes the pedagogical principle that critical thinking…