Prepared to accompany an Australian letter writing guide for students, this teachers' guide provides suggestions for integrating letter writing into the school curriculum, either through regularly scheduled activities during the school year, or through special letter writing units of a few weeks. Topics covered in the guide include: (1) the craft…

A glance at new textbooks or at ads in composition journals will show that besides "writing" and "reading," the word "process" appears more often than any other word. Composition has followed other theoretical notions in the air and turned from analyzing finished essays to examining the processes which produced them.…

Noting that raising standards for teaching is a key to education reform, this guide outlines a tested plan for helping practicing teachers upgrade and fine-tune their own performance by systematically studying their own classroom methods and the student learning that results. Following an introduction, the guide discusses research group…

A survey of teachers of composition in English as a Second Language in Japan addressed the perceptions of native-English-speaking and non-native-English-speaking teachers of the acceptability of specific error types within sentences. The native speakers of English were one British and 16 Americans. The non-native group was comprised of 26 Japanese…

Based on research relating William Perry's scheme of cognitive development to foreign language proficiency, a developmental hypothesis concerning language ability is proposed. This approach suggests that lower developmental stages in the cognitive domain retard the achievement of communicative language proficiency, while higher developmental…

Plain talk is the cornerstone for creating a classroom atmosphere in which students want to learn to improve their writing. As much as possible, the jargon and technical terminology of the profession of English should be eliminated. Teachers will know what level of language to use if they determine the nature of their audience. Teachers have to…

A study examined whether a program of writing instruction based on peer feedback would improve writing better than instruction based on teacher feedback. It was hypothesized (1) that experimental peer feedback classes would perform better than control classes on certain writing achievement variables and would display more positive attitudes toward…

To compare information about the uses of computers in composition in representative universities, this document reports on a study that gathered data from teachers, administrators, and students at 10 universities by means of questionnaires and interviews by letter, by phone, and in person during visits to campus computer labs and classrooms. The…

Writers who compose on computers have often complained of the difficulty they have in evaluating and correcting their work on the screen, particularly if the changes necessary are large, structural ones. A study of six freshman composition students and five writers experienced with computer writing examined how each used hard copy printouts of…

Intended for composition teachers and researchers, as well as those involved with educational issues apart from the writing community (legislators, administrators, researchers in other fields, parents), this book contains essays that take a critical step beyond the standard arguments of the profession, pushing hard for example, at some of the…

To discover what college courses of study were most beneficial to established television and radio journalists, a survey was conducted of the persons in charge of 434 television stations and 362 radio stations. The study, similar to previous studies, asked whether the journalists had attended college and where, which of their college courses they…

An assistant principal for elementary instruction implemented a 10-week practicum intervention designed to use teacher in-service sessions to encourage the provision of daily opportunities for journal writing to kindergartners and first graders. In-service sessions offered: (1) an overview of highlights of related research; (2) approaches to the…

This two-year pilot study examined the effectiveness of whole language on the literacy development of selected at-risk children, comparing the performance of nearly 100 first and second graders in whole language and traditional classrooms. Findings showed that children from the whole language classrooms performed as well as their counterparts from…

One of the University of Minnesota's two writing tutorial programs, Composition 1013, constitutes the second quarter of freshman composition and is designed as an option for students with specialized writing needs, such as students of English as a Second Language (ESL). The course is perceived by students as remedial, and instructors do not feel…

The December 1990 Media Evaluation Services list of computer courseware includes the following: (1) Group Grammar: grades 5-10 identify elements of grammar and mechanics; (2) Ready-Set-Read: Sequence: grades K-2 put pictures or sentences in order; (3) Write-On! Sarah, Plain and Tall: grades 4-7 develop reading, writing, and thinking skills through…