Investigating the differences between students' conventional responses to the identification of writing topics and their responses to matters of real concern (as revealed through the use of "lifewriting" processes in the classroom), an exploratory study surveyed 455 eleventh and twelfth grade students at three large urban high schools.…

Describes a "lifestorying" activity for developing oral communication in an English-as-a-foreign-language classroom. The article includes samples of the student drawings, which were used in the class to enable the students to generate ideas and build vocabulary for their personal stories. (seven references) (GLR)

The best way to understand and appreciate the forms and structures of autobiography is through the creation of lifewriting stories--memoirs, portraits, reminiscences, anecdotes, family histories, etc., which provide entry points for exploration in life experiences. Lifewriting texts provide the best point of penetration for the developing reader…

Growth into literacy occurs most effectively with the engagement of the learner. The question is therefore: what motivates learners to sustain them through the struggle to attain literacy? In this aspect of literacy education, "lifewriting" can be a most powerful medium. Basic to all of the lifewriting programs described in the text,…

Reports on a study of eighth graders who were given a series of lessons in which they were asked to write narratives about themselves. Suggests that "lifewriting" helped students, especially English-as-a-Second-Language students, to understand themselves and their pasts better and helped them to become more engaged by the possibilities of writing.…

Lifewriting is a form of autobiographical composition in which the non-expert, or even the beginning writer, tries to capture on paper the raw experiences of a lifetime. The intersections between family history and social or political events provide one set of starting points for the lifewriter who sets out on the neverending journey to capture a…

A classroom activity for developing oral communication in English as a Second Language is described as it was used in a Czechoslovakian postsecondary technical institute. The four intermediate level courses in which the technique was used were based on a communicative model. During the first half of each course, students learned to adapt to more…