Claims that despite the fact that writing research has drawn extensively on cognitive processes, little research has been done to describe the role that the unconscious and emotions play in the writing process. Offers a pedagogy designed to enable students to draw writing energy from the realm of the unconscious. (HB)

Describes the plight of academics' wives, who are held captive to the responsibilities and requirements of their spouse's demanding careers. Outlines the ways that careers in academics remain inequitable for women. (HB)

Argues that most students lack a cohesive cultural self-identity and the historical background for constructing one. Outlines methods and lessons by which students can find their own stories and develop a stronger cultural self-concept, including oral history reports, reader-response journals, and memoirs. (HB)

Presents citations, descriptions, and critiques of two current volumes that focus on helping writers to develop better writing skills. (HB)

Points out that there are a number of competing conceptions of what "critical thinking" means. Claims that thematic courses are an excellent way to teach reflective, independent thinking. Outlines how a thematic class might be structured as an ideal situation for developing critical thinking skills. (HB)

Notes that communication problems arise because of differences in world experience, in the amount of common knowledge shared within cultures, in the structure of societies and the workplace, in culturally specific rhetorical strategies, and even in differences in processing graphics. Suggests technical writing teachers find ways to incorporate…

Describes three main uses of computers for writing as a social activity: networking, telecommunications, and project work. Examines advantages and disadvantages of teaching writing on a network. Argues that reports in the literature and the example of an English as a foreign language writing class show that project work shares most of the…

Argues that those who work in the field of computers and composition have developed a characteristic value system antithetical to that found generally in English departments. Compares the characteristic value system of computer specialists with the general academic values and hopes that it remains distinct. (HB)

Outlines the drastic changes involved in introducing computer technology into the teaching of writing, particularly with regard to the overarching costs of such changes and the sense of dislocation that often accompanies them. Discusses problems that teachers typically have when shifting to computer instruction. (HB)

Explores the relationship between the traditional methods of teaching composition, beginning in the late nineteenth century and the cultural matrix in which it took shape. Describes the changing student demographics and the ritual mechanisms within a very well-defined sociocultural and pedagogical context. (HB)

Shares two examples of writing, both involving magic and incantation, used as models to help students add energy to their own writing. (MG)

Compares paragraph topic sentence use in technical writing with four other kinds of writing. Shows topic sentences used less often in technical texts. Investigates two textual factors influencing topic sentence variation. Shows topic sentence use constrained jointly by rhetorical genre and paragraph length. Offers pedagogical applications. (SR)

Describes how one teacher/poet communicates to students the feeling of spontaneity and ease with language, a similar sense of poetry as activity, gesture, and flight, and the notion that both words and sounds carry poetic meaning while letting students know it is acceptable to explore on paper while creating poetry. (MG)

Describes how writing oral history can help students to feel that they are participating in a lively intellectual and cultural process that travels beyond the limits of the classroom. Says students claim that their obligations to the assignment are surpassed by their feelings of gratification in having created living works with lasting vitality.…

Describes a structured method for the use of peer response groups in teaching writing in English as a Second Language. The method worked well with upper intermediate-advanced students in a college setting. (13 references) (JL)