A La Guardia Community College (New York) course in developmental writing for deaf students features small class size and teachers fluent in American Sign Language. Teaching practices include reading of model essays on topics of interest to deaf students, peer feedback on the first two drafts of writing assignments, and student "reading…

Reports on how one teacher created a classroom environment in which the "Standards for the English Language Arts" were put into action through modeling and offering particular kinds of written language activities and other strategies that created opportunities for students to use written language for many purposes. (SR)

Elementary school students need to work independently during writing time and monitor and assess their own progress. This paper describes self-designed rubrics, which teachers create with the help of their students. A class activity sheet explains how to create writing rubrics based on needs and goals that students identify. (SM)

Two language teachers participating in an international seminar to develop methods for assessing second language communicative competence describe the experience, their reflections on its content, and an experiment in French writing instruction undertaken in Dutch-speaking Belgium. (MSE)

Profiles students' awareness of the functions and influences of expert input in their writing. Data include results of a survey of foreign-language and English-as-a-Second-Language writers' beliefs about feedback behaviors known to interact with revision processes. Results indicate that each group perceives expert response as serving distinct…

Describes a program created to assist students of English as a Second Language in their preparation for thesis and dissertation writing by focusing on the thesis proposal as an important part of that process. Notes that they often experience difficulty meeting the demands of the kind of writing required at this level and often are unaware of the…

Argues that focusing on perceptual learning styles builds a self-awareness that serves students well because, the more they know about their learning styles, the easier it is to apply that knowledge to learning. The article points out that this process builds classroom community and provides students with opportunities to practice their writing…

Describes changes in literacy engagement during Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI), a new approach to teaching reading, writing, and science that emphasizes real-world science observations, student self-direction, strategy instruction, collaborative learning, self-expression, and coherence of literacy learning experiences. Finds that…

A special education teacher and a reading specialist who team taught fourth-grade students with learning disabilities were observed to determine the ways in which the teachers' beliefs and practices influenced their decisions about strategy instruction. The effects of strategy instruction on their reading and writing workshops are examined. (CR)

Introduced to aid writing, word processing can cause unexpected problems for those who use it. Describes four studies in which raters gave word-processed essays consistently lower scores than handwritten essays. Reasons for the discrepancies were higher expectations for typed essays, ease of spotting text errors in typed text, and more difficulty…

Focuses on performance, processes, and attitudes of 19 kindergarten students who participated in a semester of process writing and instructional activities, asking whether kindergartners can effectively engage in a writing workshop on a sustained basis. Indicates process writing instruction allowed students to show appreciable, measurable gains in…

Describes several strategies, all based on letters written between teacher and students, that build a sense of community and collaboration in college developmental reading and writing classes, helping students to see themselves as active learners and thinkers. (SR)

Examines the acquisition of academic writing skills by adult students studying by distance learning in the United Kingdom. Results indicate that the text-based nature of distance leaning affects both the way in which students acquire writing skills and the development of their identity as academic writers. Differences in the learning process were…

Discusses building fluency in reading and writing and teaching students to read and write for pleasure. Highlights include multimedia storyboards; bilingual instruction; writing programs for building fluency; CD-ROM storyboards; student-created storyboards; and an annotated bibliography of CD-ROM storyboards, poetry collections, and composing…

Discusses how pretending to be a character or to help a character with a problem made reading and writing meaningful for middle school students. Describes activities that promoted writing about thinking, thinking as a character would, character integration, creating character journals, and relating to characters. (SR)