Offers four evaluative questions for revising writing assignments into vehicles that steadily move students toward writing fluency. (RL)

Describes what one high school writing teacher would do to make a writing workshop work effectively. (RL)

Paragraphs from students' writings are cited to exemplify specific benefits students derive from the opportunity to write without fear of grades or criticism. (HTH)

Indicates that ambiguity, one of the major faults of technical prose, occurs in at least six ways: ambiguity by implication, ambiguous word order, ambiguous words, dangling participles, improper or missing punctuation, and faulty pronoun reference. Suggests cures for each and provides examples for students to discuss and correct. (TJ)

Describes a technical writing class assignment in which students describe scholarly journals in their own major fields. Tells how the assignment defines the audience for the reports, Poses descriptive questions, provides a set of general directions, and defines the form for the reports; explains the objectives of the assignment. (TJ)

Describes a weekly vocabulary assignment for college students with poor reading skills and shows how it provides incidental reading and writing benefits. (RL)

Urges teachers to keep reading and writing alive in the classroom by assigning a variety of books, including the classics, and by integrating written responses with the reading assignments. (DD)

Describes an experimental grammar workshop for journalism students who are severely handicapped in grammar as identified on a standardized test. (TJ)

States that "genrists" believe text can be described by its genre or purpose following the edict of "form follows function." Finds that such genre studies (originating in Australia) are a feature of the composition teaching which as an instructional model owes fealty to the Language Awareness and Knowledge about Language…

Notes that, contrary to what is widely thought to be true, research studies exist which lend clear-cut support to the teaching of grammar as a means of improving writing. Describes one such study. Suggests that the place of instruction in grammar in the curriculum must be reconsidered. (RS)

Explores a metaphor in the Burkean tradition which brings together two ideas not normally brought together: Plato and social constructivism. Aims to articulate a new place for Plato in conversations about social constructivism and the teaching of writing. (TB)

Looks at popular music, particularly punk music, and its troubled place in the composition curriculum for college students. Gives an overview of recent eras and the role popular music has played in college courses. (TB)

Examines two lines of feminist criticism argumentation (the "equity" critique and the "cognitive/epistemic" critique) as they apply to composition studies and speech communication. Argues that, although the two critiques apply to argumentation conceived as "war," they do not apply to argument conceived as…

Examines "writing" as a word that means one thing to some people and another to others. Suggests that sloppy usage of such a charged word could lead to trouble. Looks particularly at the move from the "writing process" or "process writing" and at what this semantic transformation indicates. (TB)

Asks why students must learn English. Addresses motivation for teaching and learning English. Suggests a better approach that places observation first, then the classification and interpretation of perceptions, and then the formation, assemblage, and revision of complete thoughts. (SG)