This article discusses exchanges between a number of scholars during the 1990s centering on Min-Zhan Lu's controversial essay "Conflict and Struggle: The Enemies or Preconditions of Basic Writing?" In some ways, "Conflict and Struggle" blazed a trail for later work in "hybrid" or "mixed" forms of academic writing while at the same time igniting…

With the misleading descriptor of "toy for generating word clouds," Wordle can be a powerful classroom tool, says Hayes. She outlines how its use for reading skills (predicting, summarizing, and comparing) and writing skills (prewriting, revising, generating poetry, expanding multimodal literacies) can engage students and develop creative and…

We built an NLP system implementing a "virtual writing conference" for elementary-school children, with German as the target language. Currently, state-of-the-art computer support for writing tasks is restricted to multiple-choice questions or quizzes because automatic parsing of the often ambiguous and fragmentary texts produced by pupils…

Weblogs--personal online, web-based publications--have exploded on the internet scene in recent years. They are among the technologies indicating changes in the way information is created, managed, and exchanged. This study examined the use of a blog in an intermediate level Spanish class and its effect upon students. Could blogging provide an…

Studies of Anglo-American writing pedagogies in EFL contexts have largely focused on local teachers' agency and innovativeness, but have neglected students' active role in localizing these pedagogical imports. Employing a teacher-research method, I examine my students' negotiations with a sequenced writing approach [Leki, I. (1992)] that I used in…

This paper reports on a pilot study that involved introducing writing tutors or writing fellows into a compulsory, third-year economics course with the intent of incorporating both writing across the curriculum and writing intensive elements. The connections and interrelationships between writing and writing intensive courses are set out briefly…

Graduate students and new faculty in counselor education are often required to contribute scholarly works. However, graduate schools do not always provide appropriate preparation in scholarly writing. This article outlines the basic components of a scholarly manuscript or paper, identifies prevalent writing errors, and offers suggestions for how…

Narrative writing has been used to promote reflection and increased self-awareness among physicians. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of prompted narrative writing on reflection. Thirty-two interns at 9 internal medicine residency programs participated in a year-long qualitative study about personal growth beginning in July of…

At many colleges, professors trained in the discipline of rhetoric and composition are finding that the specialized knowledge they bring to teaching writing is held in thrall to older notions of how students learn to write--what Linda Brodkey, an author and director of the Warren College Writing Program at the University of California at San…

Narrates the deterioration of a hyper-meticulous gardener in Austin, Texas, whose rage for order by day, and dionysian revels by night come into conflict when he must accept the botanical engineer of the month award at an evening banquet. Offers the story as an allegorical disclaimer of classical syllogistic reasoning. (JG)

Considers the problem of taking theories into the classroom. Suggests a re-examination of the relationship between theory and practice. Concludes that theories should not be criticized if they cannot be readily applied to instructional goals, and should not be expected to do more than they set out to do. (JAD)

Research on handwriting performance and instruction for intermediate students with disabilities is summarized, and it is noted that about 21 percent of third-year pupils need help with handwriting. (CL)

The article reviews the literature on handwriting and letter formation, noting writing subskills (such as laterality and eye-hand coordination) as well as observable negative behaviors (such as body tension, confusion with directionality, and problems in forming the alphabet). Ways to assess and develop letter formation abilities are described.…

The continuous stroke print program is intended to lead up to cursive writing by teaching printing using a consistent letter slant and a flowing rhythm absent in the traditional ball-stick method. This approach is also helpful in reading. (CL)

The author encourages the incorporation of handwriting practice for high school students with illegible or otherwise poor handwriting. Benefits from such a remedial approach are seen to include improved spelling skills and pride in quality of work. A sample writing pretest is provided. (CL)