An Oregon school implemented a program of journal writing in grades 5 to 8 and evaluated its effects upon the language arts curriculum and students' writing ability. Each of the 11 teachers in the project decided the amount of time to allocate to journal writing and the routines to establish, although all followed certain guidelines on…

The incorporation of microcomputers into the traditional English classroom is currently in a transitional phase. Each new use of the computer affords teachers new possibilities for teaching approaches, and the succession of uses already employed suggests that each experiment increases the distance from traditional methods. This can be illustrated…

Both teaching technical editing skills in a logical sequence from introductory through intermediate and advanced levels, and helping students learn how to offer creative help to authors call for a structured approach to the editing course. Editing students should already have a firm knowledge of spelling, punctuation, and grammar, as well as…

First implemented in 1980, the Ganado Language Arts Development (GLAD) Project is a kindergarten through grade 3 writing program that has published 31 volumes of student writing. Three primary goals guide the project: (1) to develop the foundation for literacy in each of its students, (2) to expand and enrich the pedagogical competencies of each…

Designed to assess and describe the nature and frequency of teaching methods, activities, and materials used in secondary school English courses, this survey consists of 14 questions related to teaching objectives, activities, and materials, each followed by a list of possible responses. Teachers are asked to select a course, and to circle for…

The content of a good speech writing course includes an explanation of the function and impact of speech writers, an examination of speeches produced by professional writers, and a focus on the sharpening of students' writing skills. The content must also be balanced between the practical/professional and the abstract/academic aspects of the…

Once its source has been identified using the multidimensional model developed by D. W. Stacks, R. W. Boozer, and T. D. P. Lally, writing apprehension, especially among business writing students, can be treated in the classroom with specific pedagogical techniques. Emphasizing the writing process rather than the product--stressing peer and teacher…

This description of an interactive instructional computer program in sentence combining for upper elementary and middle school students begins by summarizing the content of the program, which focuses on the instructional technique in which students are given two or more short simple sentences to combine into one longer, complex and/or compound…

A study investigated whether direct instruction in story constituents and their interrelationships could enhance children's organization in story writing. It was hypothesized that the special instruction could provide children with an internalized prototype story structure that could serve as a heuristic or planning device for organizing…

As an alternative to using written guidelines to direct peer feedback on student writing, teachers can allow students to use their own language and conversational habits in peer group conversations and then monitor peer feedback while modeling the type that is most conducive to true exchange. To create a collaboratively run writing workshop,…

Many writing process researchers have shown that students make only minor mechanical changes instead of revising their documents significantly. Effective revision pedagogy must address this problem by encouraging revision of content, arrangement, and style, and by directing student attention to all levels of the document, from the overall essay…

Peer evaluation of writing, or conferencing, is a helping process in which the teacher or other students receive and respond to the writer's work. It promotes the writer's sense of ownership of the work and thus helps develop writing skills. A writing program that includes peer evaluation, then, is one that provides a setting in which the young…

The problems of classroom teacher-conducted research are examined with reference to a particular case study. The case study involved a field test of "A Practical Guide for Advanced Writers in ESL" over a semester in two sections of an intermediate English as a second language (ESL) writing class for college-bound students at the University of…

These four issues of The Quarterly of the National Writing Project cover the calendar year 1989. The January 1989 issue contains the following articles: (1) "The Unteachables" (J. Juska); (2) "Changing the Model" (M. Griffith and others); (3) "Literate Cultures: Multi-Voiced Classrooms" (M. Roemer); (4) "Despite…

Seven rural counties on Maryland's Eastern Shore cooperated in a 3-year project to determine the feasibility of using microcomputers to instruct special education students in writing skills. All 42 participating teachers received inservice training in teaching writing to special education students; the 26 teachers in the experimental group were…