One hundred seventy-five first-year community college students enrolled in a course called "Developmental Writing 090" participated in this study. Some students were enrolled in an experimental group which was divided into two subgroups: one group was involved in independent study and the other in small group instruction. Other students in the…

The purpose of this study was to obtain information on the attitudes held by corporate executives and college professors toward the importance of proposal writing ability. Based on a survey of executives and professors, an inspection of the literature on proposal writing, and informal conversations with business executives and former students, it…

Describes the reading development of a child of average mental ability but with visual memory, auditory memory, and auditory discrimination problems. Concludes that instruction should be tailored to the child's level of development in order to maintain the child's positive attitudes and to progress in reading and writing achievement. (SRT)

Emphasizes the importance of participatory, consultative interaction among teachers using the Conference Writing Process (CWP) in the classroom. Describes CWP as inclusive of gender, class, and ethnicity. Discusses how CWP actively involves students in talking, reading, and writing. Considers the appropriateness of this method at one high school.…

Describes some of the components of the West German approach to beginning reading and writing instruction. (FL)

Evaluates several views of the relationship between computers and education, and criticizes the use of artificial intelligence and natural language processing software for evaluating student writing. Recommends utilizing programs that use heuristic methods to ask students a series of questions to help them organize and compose papers. (SKC)

Describes an informal study of the relationship between peer tutors and writers in a college writing lab. Notes that while working with the computer, the varying social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds of the participants vanish and a new relationship develops. (SKC)

Describes the Directed Reading-Writing Activity (DRWA) as a framework that helps high school students write about the information they acquire through reading. Discusses how the DRWA's three steps--preparation, involvement, and reaction--extends the thought processes associated with reading comprehension into effective writing. (AEW)

The article describes a secondary-level curriculum for written expression based on a linguistic model. Directed toward learning disabled adolescents, the method teaches sentence and paragraph construction based on verbal and written models presented by the teacher. Writing good sentences, paragraphs, and essays is presented as a logical extension…

Describes a teaching strategy using Apple IIe computers in a sequence of individual conferences. Includes asking questions while scrolling through the paper, showing students how to elaborate ideas by entering suggested changes and prompts in capital letters during the conference, and using a spelling checker to prompt revision (e.g., by compiling…

Suggests ways for the instructor to turn evaluation into an open-ended transaction with the student writer rather than a final pronouncement. Suggests that teachers should ask questions of the writer to clarify the rhetorical situation and goal, give the student one piece of advice per paper, and help the student set a reasonable goal for each…

Presents an effective strategy for having business writing students create drafts of their work, so that final copies of assignments receive better grades, and students subsequently feel better about the class. (JC)

Fluency writing programs do not meet the needs of poor and minority pupils. If minority people are to effect the change which will allow them to progress, writing programs for them must insist on skills within the context of critical and creative thinking. (PS)

Describes the Early English Composition Assessment Program of the Ohio Writing Project and the Ohio Board of Regents at Miami University. The project brings together high school English teachers who collaboratively grade papers and discuss the assessment process. Contains sample papers ranked by consensus. (SKC)

Laments the lack of respect with which graduate teaching assistants are treated in many composition programs. Describes a program at the University of Arizona that trains graduate assistants in teaching from a perspective of junior faculty colleagues and which stresses that composition instruction is a worthy and valuable profession. (SKC)