Focusing on procedures and strategies suitable for teaching writing to students in grades 4, 6, and 8, this paper examines the factors that have been shown through research to influence effective writing. The paper divides the research examined into the categories of metacognition; socially-based writing strategies; theory-tested approaches to…

This study examined the relative effects of the self-evaluation process on written composition skills development among learning-disabled junior high students. It specifically evaluated the use of a structured self-evaluation process on the quality of short compositions. Experimental subjects (N=38) were taught the use of a self-evaluation…

A "cognitive apprenticeship" approach was evaluated with 58 high-risk grade 7 social studies students. The three teachers were trained to provide explicit instruction of higher order cognitive strategies through modeling, monitoring, and collaborative role-playing activities. Students' writing showed significant improvements and was judged similar…

This study examined the effects of a year-long word processing program on learners' holistic writing skills. Based on results of a writing pretest, 80 seventh grade students were designated as relatively high or low in prior writing achievement and assigned to one of two groups: a word processing treatment and a conventional writing process…