Traces the changes in composition theory and teaching over a period of years. (FL)

Examines James Kinneavy's "Theory of Discourse," arguing that he fails to provide compelling support for the theory, and that a number of specific assertions fail to hold up under scrutiny. Discusses weaknesses in his handling of referential and persuasive discourse. (HTH)

Recent, renewed interest in the personal in writing and teaching suggests that the late Jim Corder still has much to tell us. Editors James Baumlin and Keith Miller argue that Corder's yet-to-be-absorbed theory and scholarly praxis can contribute significantly to current debates in composition studies, especially because Corder struggles to move…

Despite growing efforts to take a more focused approach to teaching writing across academic disciplines, relatively little is known about how writing-intensive courses impact students' perceptions of writing. This study addressed this question by investigating differences across academic disciplines in student perceptions of writing. Anthony…

The author of this paper, a writing teacher who is also writing a handbook for McGraw-Hill, finds herself in a conceptual, pedagogical quandary that leaves her feeling like a fraud. According to the paper, she sees her job as helping her students gain the editing skills they want, but she has not yet succeeded in integrating the teaching of…

In this paper, the author/educator considers the influence of the composition scholar Dixie Goswami on his own professional career as a teacher of writing at Clemson University. The paper takes the author through his graduate studies and his attendance at summer institutes, pointing out that Dixie Goswami was always an inspiration to him and to…

Action research is designed with the intent of assisting educators in assessing the effectiveness of their building and classroom practices. Lesson study helps teachers use ongoing collaborative peer-insight and feedback about student responses to instruction to develop high quality lessons. Middle school teachers from an outer-ring suburb of…

The National Writing Project (NWP) at Work monograph series describes NWP work, often shared informally or in workshops through the NWP network, and offers detailed chronological accounts for sites interested in adopting and adapting the models. This monograph--"The Johnston Area Writing Partnership (JAWP)"--describes a North Carolina…

Although composition specialists embrace a variety of theoretical frameworks and research methodologies, they share a commitment to protecting the rights, privacy, dignity, and well-being of the students who are involved in their studies. These guidelines from the Conference on College Composition and Communication are intended to assist…

This booklet contains 25 classroom-ready, literacy-building activities that can also serve as a starting point for teachers to develop their own activities. The metacognitive aspects of the exercises encourage students to reflect on what they did and what they learned and to discuss what they got out of the exercises. The activities share the…

Through 77 targeted, high-powered writing activities and detailed directions for guiding the activities, author and master storyteller Kendall Haven provides teachers of grades 3-9 with a complete writing program that ensures student success. These field-tested writing strategies and techniques create a carefully sequenced and balanced approach…

This paper presents 10 techniques for tutoring college-level writing students on word processors. Good teaching and tutoring techniques enable writers rather than simply demand compliance. A good technique: must not rely on a fancy word processing program; will take advantage of the basic word processing functions; will ask that the writer do…

Students sometimes respond to writing assignments automatically, almost as if they were a generic form, rather than by investigating the idiosyncrasies and unexpected possibilities of each assignment. Writing assignments can be structured to help students transcend such habits, shifting the focus from accumulating information to creating meaning…

The argument at the heart of this paper is a struggle over the construction of the feminist composition teacher. There are traces of her construction in countless unrecorded verbal exchanges; every reference to student fears of professors, to "sensitive" men, to maternal women, to sensible feminists is such a trace. Generally speaking,…

This book describes the use of Literacy Teams, teams of teachers and others who systematically look for ways to help one another and draw on a wide range of campus and community resources to help children struggling to learn to read. The book is written to help teachers, parents, reading specialists, counselors, and principals to work together in…