As a result of a program of research about cognitive processes involved in learning to read and write among 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year old-children, this book attempts to get teacher-researchers to think through the implications of recent insights into literacy and literacy learning. The first section examines instructional assumptions; proposes a new…

Invisible writing is a technique whereby the composer writes with an empty ballpoint pen on a blank piece of paper backed by a piece of carbon paper and a bottom blank sheet. An informal experiment in which graduate students used the invisible writing technique was conducted to replicate earlier studies indicating that invisible writing is…

This loose-leaf compendium, the first in a projected series of five, includes three types of brief research summaries: "topical synthesis,""close-ups," and "snapshots." The single topical synthesis, by Greg Druian and Jocelyn A. Butler is entitled "Effective Schooling Practices and At-Risk Youth: What the…

Community college students tend to perceive a gap between their current writing ability and the level of writing skill they expect to need as employees in the future. Unfortunately, college composition classes generally do a poor job of capitalizing on the true value of writing to career development, and fail to have students practice the kind of…

The central aspect of Connecticut's agenda for educational equity and excellence is the implementation of statewide mastery testing in mathematics and language arts. The program, designed for grades four, six, and eight, assesses the skill levels of students by measuring their performance on learning objectives they should have mastered in lower…

Recent research on children learning to write, coming from a mix of disciplines (English education, linguistics, psychology, anthropology, and rhetoric), is described in this volume. The introduction, by Marcia Farr, emphasizes how the research contributes to understanding (1) of research methodology and theoretical frameworks, and (2) of…

Ninety-one college writing teachers completed a questionnaire about the extent of their computer use, computers and the writing process, advantages and disadvantages of computer use, problems encountered and suggested solutions, and future directions. Among the findings are the following: (1) The majority of those involved in computer assisted…

Four overlapping areas of exploration have sparked creative thought about computers and their relationship to writing. The area receiving the most attention is computers and writing pedagogy. Some of the directions taken by research in this area have focused on computers and the composing process; computers, writing instruction, and learning…

Created as one part of a comprehensive curriculum for teaching writing from kindergarten through twelfth grade, this guide focuses on expressive writing. Following an introduction describing the goals of the writing project, the preface points out that the guide is based on the comprehensive model of James Kinneavy's "A Theory of Discourse,…

The fourth part of a four-year K-12 curriculum guide project for teaching writing, this guide deals with the literary aim (or purpose) for creating composition--which challenges the individual to develop a creative style found in the novel, short story, drama, or poem, and which encompasses both fiction and nonfiction. The preface explains that…

Intended for teachers, this bibliography contains 30 brief reviews of recent books on the theory and practice of teaching writing. The first section, on theory, focuses on "Famous Last Words, The American Language Crisis Reconsidered" (Harvey A. Daniels); "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" (Betty Edwards); "The Role…

Intended as a resource for teachers, this booklet contains suggestions and exercises to use in teaching creative writing. The booklet begins with a message to teachers about the writers-in-the-school program and tips on the teaching of creative writing. Following that are detailed exercises in four categories: memory, imagery, metaphor, and music.…

The student brings to translation a predetermined set of criteria for words, grammar, sentence structure, writing, and communication generally, as well as the relative success experienced using those criteria in one's native language. Even at the advanced level, the student brings assumptions to reading that are more a reflection of personal…

Noting that a learning-styles approach to college instruction would ideally call for a separate course on learning taught by a learning styles specialist committed to building on students' strengths rather than concentrating on their weaknesses, this paper describes how these goals can be met in a basic composition course. The first half of the…

Noting that the educational software market is expanding at a precipitous rate, but with considerable variation in quality, this paper outlines a thorough set of tangible and useful questions, based on two years of program design for English and writing lab usage. The major portion of the paper discusses criteria for evaluation in each of the…