Computer assisted instruction can be used for stimulating rhetorical invention in English composition. The computer program is responsible for the direction of the inquiry and the motivational sequence while the writer is responsible for the content. The resulting interaction raises to the conscious level what writers already know about their…

This journal issue provides topics and methods that elementary school teachers can use in writing instruction. The first part of the bulletin describes the nature of the composing process, the types of writing that elementary students produce, and an analysis of teaching strategies. These comments speak to the classroom teacher and reflect recent…

Student writers should be encouraged to transform their initial writer-centered drafts into reader-based prose with discourse that is developed, shaped, and worded to take the reader's needs into consideration. The main features of writer-centered prose are egocentrism, a form that reflects the writer's thought flow, unexpressed causal relations,…

The purposes of this investigation were: (1) to analyze the critical writing achievement and the critical thinking achievement of groups of students of various abilities who received instruction in general semantics with similar groups of students who did not, (2) to determine if instruction in general semantics was equally effective for all…

The purpose of this experimental study was to determine whether instruction in generative grammar would produce better student writing. As a secondary aspect of the study, evaluation of all students was made for growth in knowledge of grammar apart from writing or other practical applications, whether the students had been instructed in generative…

Argues that writing assignments should (1) specify audience, purpose, and topic, (2) define rhetorical problems, (3) incorporate stages of the composing process, (4) provide timely feedback to avoid cognitive overload, and (5) follow some developmental sequence. Describes several assignments based on letter writing. (JG)

Discusses the affinities between L. Flower's problem-solving method, B. Young's tagmemic invention, and Dewey's reflective thinking, each strategy equally focusing on choices to be made allowing the thinker/writer to make order out of incongruity and dissonance. Applies Dewey's five phases of reflective thought to writing. (JG)

Asks what can an advanced composition course offer its students that is both new and valuable to all of them despite the diversity of students' fields and career goals? Argues that job-related writing requires special attention to audience. Suggests ways to organize course content to develop audience awareness. (JG)

Examines one approach to tracking discourse level "functional" features for computer-based writers' aids by comparing the grammatical base and approach to parsing embodied in an ATN parser with that of a systemic parser, which makes an analysis of discourse-level features explicit. (HTH)

Introduces the idea of a smart documentation system (SDS). Argues that an SDS will be more useful for providing interface that allows the user to describe problems using natural language. Describes a computational linguistic system that could provide the basis for such an interface, and the basic design of an SDS that would incorporate such an…

Describes a summer internship as a faculty technical writer with a business corporation, revising installation manuals based upon information from computer programers--an experience that highlighted technical writers' need for interpersonal skills. (HTH)

Cites two examples pertaining to the cultural context of technical communication in which cultural factors affected the writing problems that surfaced. Argues that teachers and consultants must make their students and clients aware of the cultural effects pertaining to their writing. (HTH)

Discusses a teacher's experience writing poems with eight third and fifth graders pulled from their regular classrooms. Provides transcripts of the two poems written with the students. (SRT)

Reveals ways to help students learn that writing can be similar to play, in that they can use their imaginations to create new settings and even new worlds. Suggests using toys, imaginary trips, and including friends in stories as inspiration for writing. (SKC)

Examines definitions of written fluency, methods used to promote fluency, and some of the problems inherent in the approaches. Topics discussed include writing process, modeling, metacognition, and developmental studies. Concludes that written fluency is a multi-dimensional concept involving a range of strategies, their organization, and…