Describes how elementary school teachers encouraged poor readers and writers by having them--and the whole class--keep journals on topics they knew more about than anyone else in the class and then read the entries aloud. Discusses a three-step process approach to writing instruction derived from this successful method. (HTH)

Describes how a group of third graders had an opportunity to write fairy tales using process writing techniques to assist them in overcoming their anxiety and dislike for writing. Indicates that writing strategies introduced through focused mini-lessons and feedback that valued children's writing choices were critical for the positive influences…

A case study with two Finnish 10-year-old boys evaluated an intervention designed to promote the spelling skills of students with severe writing difficulties. The intervention comprised strategy instruction, procedural facilitation, and computer-assisted tutoring. Participants showed gains in spelling accuracy, spelling revision skills, decoding…

Early childhood education majors enrolled in a reading methods course completed a questionnaire on teaching writing. In general, the students supported a process approach to teaching writing, believed that such an approach could be easily implemented in a classroom, and intended to use a process approach themselves. (PCB)

Surveys of two second-grade and two fifth-grade classes (45 and 40 students, respectively) assessed effects on student attitudes of using the process approach to writing as the core of poetry instruction. The approach worked for both grades for poetry, but only for fifth graders for other creative writing forms. (TJH)

Argues that incorporating computers into writing across the curriculum programs is important because computers are becoming more common and more essential in business and professional writing. Argues that the success of institutionalizing the computer depends on convincing teachers that teaching the processes of writing and thinking is essential.…

A longitudinal case study examined the writing development of two children who learned to write in "process writing" classrooms in Australia. Results of participant observation in K-3 classrooms suggest that choices made in language are not free but are constrained by social and cultural contexts, including the ideology of gender in the…

Examines the way that value mediates the construction of meaning, how the active processes of constructing meaning are molded around value. Explores how a description of the writing process in terms of value might inform classroom practice--how it might affect teacher perceptions of what students are doing in their writing and how teachers comment…

Researchers gave low ratings to 73% of fourth-graders' informative writing samples on NAEP's 1992 Writing Portfolio Study. Teachers blame changing demographics, science and math emphases, the self-esteem movement, standardized tests, and fast-paced lifestyles. Administrators must encourage student writing, support teachers, schedule more language…

Compares differences in achievement of below-grade-level students receiving basal reading instruction with peers in a writing-process-oriented language arts program. Finds that language arts students spent more time reading and writing, were exposed to more types of literature and writing activities, and exhibited more positive attitudes toward…

Describes the five-step writing process used in a holistic secondary school writing program: brainstorming, outlining, drafting/revising, peer editing, and writing a final copy. Discusses the writing process, the teacher-student relationship, collaborative learning, and student evaluation. (PRA)

Describes the "Global Method" of Celestin Freinet, a French educator whose teaching methods (similar to language experience, writing process approach, and whole language) are used by teachers in Europe. Offers excerpts of Freinet's ideas on democratic pedagogy, having children write their own books, teaching writing, moral civic…

Warns against a complete reliance on the "writing process approach" in writing instruction, stressing that not all writers rely on rewriting and revision and that emphasis on group response does not necessarily lead to effective writing. Argues that the process approach discourages modeling and the use of well-known rhetorical patterns. (DMM)

Assesses the debate between the process writing/whole language approach to literacy education and genre-based writing instruction. Explains that the former stresses ownership and voice and the latter identifies and linguistically describes the genres used in school and proposes a curriculum model for teaching writing. (SK)

Reports the findings of a small-scale study assessing whether students revise essays more effectively when given written diagnoses that identify textual flaws and prescriptive comments, compared with a group of control students who received only directions stating that flaws were present. Concludes that while both groups' revising skills improved…