Teaching college writing students to edit the autobiographical writing of others has many advantages. Autobiographical materials, such as diaries, letters, or journals, are physically and psychologically accessible for students, and as editors they would be obliged to keep in mind appropriateness of language, tone, and simplicity or complexity of…

To explain how writing is both cognitive and behavioral, this paper compares and contrasts behavioral and cognitive orientations within an instructional design. The first section addresses the weaknesses and strengths of a behavioral versus a cognitive orientation and relates them to Janet Emig's 1971 study, "The Composing Processes of Twelfth…

English composition teachers in community colleges encounter a wide range of writing abilities and problems in their classes and must provide a great deal of individualized attention to assist students in mastering the process of writing. If teachers of writing are to be able to carry out their designated commitment to literacy for students,…

Because of the pressures of modernization and other cultural factors, freshmen students at the University of the Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico lack basic communication skills in both Spanish and English. At present, there is no composition course in Spanish at the college, and the basic Spanish textbook currently in use reflects attitudes on…

A study of student perceptions of the goals of composition classes and essential rules for successful academic compositions was conducted as a pilot for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) writing project, which will collect data on instructional practices and other aspects of written composition.…

Efficient handwriting plays an important role in strengthening virtually all other school skills. One method of teaching handwriting involves personifying the letters in order to make writing more interesting, meaningful, and fun. The first lesson shows students the correct sitting position and the proper way to hold a pen. The next lesson has the…

Academic writing is distinguished by its being a problem solving activity, no matter how tentative the solutions. In this regard, writing about literature is a form of academic writing that shares the same assumptions as other academic writing. The problem solving activity of the literary interpreter consists of discovering, preserving, or…

To determine whether older students make more revisions in their essays, more kinds of revisions, or "bigger" revisions than younger students, a study was made of revisions made by 30 randomly selected seventh grade and 30 randomly selected eleventh grade students. Students were asked to write and revise twice essays in which they described a…

A description is given of a writing lab in which teacher education students from a content area reading class helped English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners improve their writing. The activity employed an instructional technique called "reformulation." First, each ESL student wrote a relatively short essay (300-400 words) on a selected topic.…

One portion of a course in English for Science and Technology (EST) designed for foreign nuclear engineers studying at Oregon State University dealt with the conceptual paragraph, considered a basic unit of discourse in EST. The conceptual paragraph is defined as a group of rhetorically related concepts developing a generalization to form a…

The pyramid, or hierarchical diagram, is used in teaching writing English as a second language (ESL) as a visual representation of the way English speakers and writers organize ideas, for comparison with discourse organization in other cultures. A common problem of ESL students is an inability to organize ideas hierarchically. One class activity…

Composition instruction based on aims of discourse rather than on modes can help students understand the purpose and function behind their writing. Such an approach, developed by Caroline Eckhardt and David Stewart, offers four categories that cover most purposes for writing in academic or career settings: (1) to clarify what the subject is, (2)…

In establishing a framework for observing and interpreting the interplay among students accumulating knowledge, their intellectual growth, and their ability to express ideas in writing, it is useful to consider the major stage theories and analyze their place in student writing. In general, cognitive stage models describe logical and psychological…

Designed to assist instructors at Miami-Dade Community College in the implementation of a reading and writing across the curriculum effort, this resource book provides information and instructional materials to help in the design of writing and reading learning strategies for the classroom. The writing portion of the book begins with a statement…

This annotated bibliography contains listings of 7 publications on literacy, 16 on reading, and 14 on writing. These professional materials include books, collections of articles, research reports, proposals, program descriptions, descriptions of teaching methods, dictionaries, teacher guides, and exercises/strategies for the learner. Materials in…