Suggests grammar checkers remain troublesome and inaccurate. Reviews the literature of grammar checker technology in composition. Analyzes the current grammar checking capability of the most popular word-processing programs in the United States, Microsoft 2000 and Corel 9.0 (2000). Concludes by suggesting uses of grammar checkers for composition…

Presents a statement of "professional concerns," to echo Jeanne Simpson's exploration of beginning a writing center. Presents the story of the author's first year as one way of reading the factors that both constrain and enable educators to reach levels of professional status that ensure security and stability, both for educators personally and…

Explores graphical, hypertextual, interactive elements of children's literature and compares them to the characteristics of writing taught in early elementary school. Finds mismatches between ways children are taught to write and the materials they are reading. Discusses finding places where early elementary writing instruction can be updated to…

Outlines detrimental effects of word processing in the composition classroom on planning, reading, organizing, revising, error detection, and spelling and vocabulary skill development. Discusses strategies instructors can use to teach students to use the computer at each stage of the writing process in ways that encourage and develop the…

Considers how journal writing is used in primary grades to support the emergent literacy skills of young children. Reviews the literature on journal writing. Compares first grade teachers' instructional practices and perceived benefits or disadvantages of journal writing. Provides evidence that first grade teachers in the school district are using…

Provides some basic suggestions to help teachers become politically aware and perhaps politically involved. Focuses on how to influence legislation at the state level; however, much of the advice is applicable to the national level as well. Gives reasons for becoming politically involved, where to begin, and for taking action. Notes how teachers…

Argues that both composition and literary studies have a common pedagogical vocation and that by harvesting some very general insights from two decades of cultural critique, English departments can develop curricula that will resolve a good deal of the conflict between literature and composition and improve instruction in both. (SC)

Notes that finding a way to integrate grading and responding in a manner that promotes learning through revision is one major challenge for composition instructors. Argues that instructors must find a way to shape their classrooms shifting the emphasis from "getting it right the first time," to learning to see writing as an activity that evolves…

Presents a conversation between the two authors as they attempt to confront the construction of "whiteness" as a silent but potent epistemology that pervades writing instruction and contributes to racism within academic institutions. Discusses pedagogical practices as well as university policies, focusing particularly on the subject positions of…

This study examined the effects of similarity in competence between model and observer on the effectiveness of observational learning in argumentative writing. Results are consistent with the similarity hypothesis: weak learners learn more from focusing their observations on weak models, whereas better learners learn more from focusing on good…

Based on a six-state survey of first- and fourth-grade teachers, describes how exemplary teachers provided their students with effective reading and writing instruction. Describes six common features of effective elementary reading and writing instruction categorized as time, texts, teaching, talk, tasks, and testing. (Contains 23 references.)…

Describes an argument workshop that can demystify the concept for students by revealing to them how much they already know about persuading an audience. Concludes that an argument workshop helps students see the authors included in their textbooks as individuals who drew from a repertoire of argumentative techniques to persuade an audience. (SG)

Discusses assessment of English-as-a-Foreign/Second-Language (EFL/ESL) writing. Suggests there is a considerable gap between current practices in writing assessment and criteria suggested by advances in knowledge of discourse structure. Illustrates this by contrasting current practices in the scoring of two major EFL/ESL writing tests with…

Discusses basic writing pioneer Mina Shaughnessy, who advocated for a humanistic approach to writing instruction for disadvantaged students, within the context of the City University of New York's policy of open admissions. (EV)

Examines many surprising problems that arise in the process of distance education using the Internet and describes ways in which instructors and administrators can solve these problems. Notes that the solutions described are generalizable to other programs using online delivery for instruction. (SG)