The rapidly expanding literature on the development of language skills and the relationship of language to learning is examined for insights into college writing instruction. Shifts in emphasis in recent research and practice are discussed and new concepts on which to base instruction are proposed. (Author/MSE)

Reviews research on handwriting instruction that focuses on these questions: (1) Do learners need particular writing instruments and paper? (2) Should educators encourage students to trace or copy? and (3) How can educators evaluate learners' writing? Offers implications and suggestions for handwriting instruction. (BB)

Reports a two-phase ethnographic investigation documenting peer conference activity among fourth graders in a writing workshop. Investigates, in phase one, what happens in peer conferences and how that relates to instructional context. Investigates, in phase two, comments about revision, participant expectations, and use of peer comments during…

Describes the Local Area Network (LAN), a project in which students used LAN-based word processing and electronic mail software as the center of a writing process approach. Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of networking. (MM)

Surveys recent feminist research on gender differences in social and psychological development, and shows how this research and theory may be used in examining student writing, thus suggesting directions that a feminist investigation of composition might take. (SR)

Discusses how research in error analysis and discourse analysis can help teachers understand basic writers. Argues that the role of teachers is to recognize basic writers' attempts to construct meaningful prose by focusing on both the meaning of the text and the meaning of students' writing errors. (MM)

Describes a study showing how the classical Chinese world view finds its way into Chinese students' written compositions. English teachers must help students progress from writing based on reasoning and rhetoric indigenous to their own culture, to writing in line with the thought and rhetoric patterns of the English-speaking context. (CB)

Reports on a study of eighth graders who were given a series of lessons in which they were asked to write narratives about themselves. Suggests that "lifewriting" helped students, especially English-as-a-Second-Language students, to understand themselves and their pasts better and helped them to become more engaged by the possibilities of writing.…

Provides words and pictures to help understand how the concept of the artists' workshop can enhance writers' workshops in the elementary or middle school classroom. (RS)

Experiences at Brooklyn College with Russian students who have had some formal English study before emigrating are recounted. Steady progress through a sequence of English-as-a-Second-Language courses is attributed to a student network of jobs, apartments, and English classes. Writing instruction techniques are cited. (Contains eight references.)…

An approach to college faculty development applies fundamental principles of writing to improvement of the writing of college faculty. A series of rules for writing are presented in six categories: motivation; imagination; fluency; control; audience; and resilience. The rules focus more on efficiencies and economies of writing than content or…

Discusses beginning writing activities that teachers can use with young children. Notes that preschoolers use writing systems that include drawings, scribblings, letterlike forms, words, and invented spelling. Suggests that teachers can use functional writing projects, such as greeting cards, lists, journals, address books, and pen pals, to…

Rejects the notion that writing and teaching must be created in colleges and then flow down to high schools. Uses the South Basin Writing Project as a model for change, showing how knowledge about writing and teaching can be generated by practitioners. Notes how the forces of tradition and expediency often prevent this knowledge from resulting in…

Examines critically the commonplace assumption that students are outsiders who need to be initiated into the academic community. Argues that the image of students as outsiders fails to consider their many years of experience in education. Suggests that instructors should position themselves as outsiders to the students' interpretive practices.…

Presents an example of a multimedia program for French-as-a-Foreign-Language instruction developed at Penn State University using a videodisc selection that illustrates the use of authentic materials with potential for adaptations for various levels, tasks, and media. (JL)