Screencast feedback is higher in quantity, explicit and engaging and may better enable uptake compared to written feedback. However, most studies deploy screencast feedback as 'transmission' of feedback comments, positioning learners as passive and neglecting the importance of agency and action within the uptake process. This study attempts to…

Argues that student journals provide the basis for helping students learn to teach themselves and explore their attitudes and beliefs about writing, and strategies for writing. Reviews the historical uses of journals, the different educational uses of journals, and the use of the journal in the writing classroom. (DMM)

Based on a series of successful summer writing institutes, this book presents practical ways for teachers to reinvigorate their classrooms and their own attitudes toward creative writing. In four complementary sections focusing on four groups of writers--creative writers in residence, K-12 students and teachers who participated in the summer…

This article examines different manifestations of verbal talent and how teachers can identify and cultivate special verbal abilities in students. The provision of role models relevant to students' interests is stressed and a list of recommended biographies is included, as are literary experiences available to student writers. The relationship of…

Drawing on psychological, sociolinguistic, and discourse theories, this book shows how students use writing not only as a vehicle for participating in the academic world but also as a means of fashioning their own private and public identities. It presents case studies of four students during their years at a large, public university. The case…

The Motivation to Write Profile (MWP) is an instrument which was designed to help teachers gain insights into students' writing motivation. This paper describes the development, administration, and scoring of the MWP and suggests practical ways to use resulting information to create a classroom environment which supports young writers as they…

Reviews recent research concerning the use of computers in language arts instruction, reporting little impact on writing quality, but improvement in students' attitudes toward writing. Provides suggestions for effective computer use and warnings concerning their limitations and misuse in the teaching of basic writers. (DMM)

Discusses characteristics of lifetime writers: seeing writing's purpose, initiating writing, expressing their own voice, and working well alone. Teachers can encourage this behavior by demonstrating writing, allowing time and choice, using writing skills frequently, demonstrating writing conventions, expecting more, and responding to writing. (SM)

Examines research on the causes of writing apprehension. Profiles high-apprehensive writers, characterizes their written products, and describes their writing processes. Suggests four procedures for dealing with writing apprehension: peer group workshops; positive reinforcement; teaching about writing process, and gradually increasing students'…

Presented as a conversation rather than as a single-voiced academic paper, this paper describes the three people's experiences with experimental academic writing as students and as teachers. It describes such writing (or autobiographical scholarship) as a hybrid blend of autobiographical bits and scholarship, writing and reading, public and…

Compares the use of multiple choice and essay tests for student evaluation and asserts that essay tests are superior but have disadvantages. Presents a rationale and suggestions for implementing the guided essay approach to student evaluation. Includes an appendix with a guided essay format accompanied by a sample essay. (CFR)

A survey of 33 former English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students now in university-level content courses explores their perceptions of the relationship between their ESL writing class instruction and the actual writing tasks in later courses. Findings reveal general satisfaction but also expressed needs for more complex writing assignments and…

Noting that educators need to capture the interest of primary students early on to make lifelong writers out of them, this paper discusses ways to encourage the writing process in the primary grades. The paper discusses the philosophy of the writing process, what experts say about writing, setting up the environment, writing with lower primary…

A faculty member at the University of Toronto (Ontario) developed an informal survey designed to assess her undergraduate students' views of the writing they did during the course of their university studies. The survey consisted of a 2-page questionnaire that could be completed in 5 to 10 minutes; it was administered to 722 students during the…

Drawing on findings from psychology, anthropology, and sociology, this book examines motivation for writing and connects writing with the roles each person plays--in the family, the workplace, and in social and cultural groups including school--and with the lifelong search for potential new roles. As a blueprint for changing the writing of college…