Supporting the contention that using experimental research designs will facilitate sound decisions about how to teach the composing process, this paper first describes briefly the range of research methods available for investigating the writing process. Next the paper discusses the advantages of conducting experimental research, some of which are…

The steps outlined in this paper are intended to help organize and capitalize on local school resources when constructing inservice programs for improving writing instruction. The guidelines are based on the assumptions that faculties are aware of their own teaching needs, that the best inservice comes from teachers who can effectively demonstrate…

Sixty consequential writing tasks are described in this source book to help elementary and secondary school students develop their abilities in written composition. The activities foster thinking by posing game-like writing problems that require students to use their minds in the ways that good writers do, and to solve the problems that good…

The rhetoric teacher's aim is to make the native English speaker cognizant of the thought processes he or she has been taught to use by the culture. This approach does not work with foreign students because perception, imputation of meaning, and construction of reality appear to be bound by the logic and grammar of the language we speak. The…

Teaching practices in Italy, where teachers combine three different methods for teaching reading, may provide insight into ways to improve methodologies in the United States. The first method is the natural method, which, unlike American methods, teaches reading and writing simultaneously with the emphasis on writing. The teacher writes as…

Before an effective program can be developed to help the remedial writing student, instructors must dispel the myth that college students can read college level materials. Related to this assumption is the belief that those who cannot read in college cannot do so because of a lack of intelligence. Clearly what is important in understanding the…

Responses to a writing therapy questionnaire by 25 psychologists indicated how and why they used writing in their work. Three-fifths of the psychologists used writing frequently, two-fifths infrequently. Most of the counselors reported that clients reacted quite positively to requests that they engage in writing. The most commonly used forms of…

The purpose of this handbook is to provide assistance to kindergarten through grade two classroom teachers in assessing student needs and implementing strategies to increase student achievement and mastery of the basic skills in the language arts. The first part of the handbook presents the underlying considerations in determining appropriate…

Sentence combining activities can be used throughout the English curriculum. The entire composing process can be developed with sentence combining activities based on student rough drafts of book reports, analysis and imitation of sentences written by professional writers, the organization of sentences in whole paragraphs or essays, and "oral…

To make freedom work in the writing classroom, the instructor must be highly structured, possessing a clear sense of direction that includes a precise idea of the skills to be covered. Freedom refers to the view of writing as a liberal art, a liberating force with the capacity to open new channels of thought and lead students to discover…

A study was conducted to examine the effects of sentence combining instruction on the writing performance of both black students and students from small high schools enrolled in freshman composition classes. Subjects were 56 students enrolled in two sections of freshman composition, with one section receiving practice in sentence combining. The…

Treating all major aspects of the writing assessment process, this manual is designed to help school districts evaluate writing in order to improve students' writing skills. The first major section of the manual presents background information on general measurement issues, such as evaluating writing ability by means of direct and indirect…

Children can acquire written language skills and abilities through the natural process by which they acquire oral language. If as infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, children are exposed to rich print environments, they transfer assumptions from experiences with oral dialogue to the more focused situations of print. Discrepancies in the ease with…

Twenty secondary school foreign language classes in Wisconsin were monitored to determine how foreign language class time is used. The target language was used 79% of the time. Teachers made 61% of the target language utterances, suggesting that insufficient time was being spent on student practice. Two percent of class time was devoted to…

Providing instruction in language theory is an innovative technique for use in remedial and other composition courses in the two-year college. Such innovations provide intellectually stimulating material to students who lose interest when confronted with traditional grammar and composition. Students are acquainted with American Edited English in…