This study examined the relationship between ninth-grade students' use of connectives (temporal, causal, adversative, and additive) in functional writing and performance on standards-based/criterion-referenced measures of reading and writing. Specifically, structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to examine the relationship between…

The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of the kinds of prior knowledge students bring with them from high school as it relates to the conventions of writing that they are expected to follow in ARTS 1110 Introduction to University. The research questions were "Can first-year students taking the Arts 1110 Introduction to…

The impact written corrective feedback (WCF) has on second language development is still a subject of much debate. While some believe it leads to improvement, others are more sceptical. But in order for WCF to lead to second language improvement, learners must first be able to not only correctly interpret the WCF but also understand the linguistic…

Immigrants and the children of immigrants who have completed their schooling in Canadian school settings, commonly referred to as Generation 1.5, are increasingly identified in the research literature as academically at risk due to inadequately developed academic language proficiency and learning strategies. This article describes the design,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges faced by first-year students as they negotiated the transition from the writing environment of high school to the writing environment of university. The research for the dissertation was undertaken using a mixed-method explanatory design. This yielded a description of students'…

This article reviews three studies that provide evidence that students with learning disabilities (LD) display optimistic academic self-beliefs, even in the face of relatively poor academic performance. In the first study, a quantitative approach was used to explore the spelling and writing self-efficacy of 133 adolescents with and without LD.…

This article reports on a study of 23 tenth-grade students who created fiction in digital game and written formats. The researchers observed them at work, analysed their stories in both formats, and interviewed selected students to learn what affordances and constraints they demonstrate and/or articulate in such authoring. The students used…