This paper draws on data from an Economic and Social Research Council-funded research project on literacies in the context of further education in the UK. Taking a social view of reading and writing moves us away from seeing literacy (singular) as a universal set of transferable skills towards seeing literacies (plural) as emergent practices found…

The current study examined Korean college students' L2 writing development and performance, motivation, and strategies while taking ESL writing classes. The present study expands the literature by examining the effects of various learner characteristics on L2 writing development. The selection and the expected effects of learner variables were…

Community colleges currently enroll about 44% of the undergraduate students in the United States and are rapidly expanding. It is of critical importance to obtain direct evidence of student learning to see if students receive adequate training at community colleges. This study investigated the 10-year trends of community college students' (n =…

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) "Special Education at a Glance," which includes a copy of the "Guide to Planning and Assessing School-Based Special Education Programs," provides in a single document, information about the special education population at each Montgomery County public school, including enrollment,…

This statewide Report Card to the Public is published in accordance with Alaska Statute 14.03.120 for the school year 2014-2015. Under state law, each school district also is required to report information about its performance. Public knowledge pertaining to the school system is an important part of Alaska's accountability system. This report is…

This study assessed the impact of completing an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course on the writing of postgraduate learners. We begin this paper by describing a course offered for credit to postgraduate international students at a university in Australia, and then report on a large-scale study (n = 69) which investigated the improvement (if…

This essay describes Louisiana State University's search for an alternative to available placement protocols. Under the leadership of Les Perelman at MIT, LSU collaborated with four universities to develop iMOAT, a program for administering online assessments of student writing. This essay focuses on LSU's On-line Challenge, which developed from…

Section 1008.30 (formerly 240.117), Florida Statutes, requires the State Board of Education to develop and implement a common placement testing program to assess the basic computation and communication skills of students who intend to enter a degree program at any public community college or state university. Every year the State provides reports…

One of the greatest challenges teachers of deaf students face is how to teach students to write effectively. Teachers want them to plan, organize, and relay meaning in a coherent way, but teachers also expect them to develop a sense of control over English writing conventions and mechanics. It is probably no surprise that teachers are constantly…

This study investigated writing apprehension, motivational levels, and writing performance of 68 undergraduates enrolled in four freshman composition courses during one semester. Participants in the treatment groups received relevance, confidence, or a combination of relevance and confidence motivational strategies based on Keller's ARCS model. In…

Business schools are often criticized for the inadequate writing skills of their graduates. Improving writing skills involves first understanding the current skill level of students. This research attempts to provide insights into the effectiveness of the current method of assessing writing skills in a school of business at a large regional…

The 2006 Spellings Commission report, "A Test of Leadership," stated that substandard high school preparation is compounded by poor alignment between high schools and colleges, which often creates an "expectations gap" between what colleges require and what high schools produce. This gap results in an annual expenditure of roughly one billion…

Providing effective feedback on writing is a challenge in any learning environment, but it is even more problematic in fully online instruction. The lack of face-to-face interaction in web-based classes increases the need for highly transparent, prompt, and personalized feedback. Student views on the use of a semi-structured template combined with…

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) "Special Education at a Glance," which includes a copy of the "Guide to Planning and Assessing School-Based Special Education Programs," provides in a single document, information about the special education population at each Montgomery County (Maryland) public school, including…

This article describes two very different projects undertaken in the same basic writing course: collaborative ethnography and ACT test prep. At first glance, it appears that the work on collaborative ethnography accomplished our goal of creating better, more self-conscious writers while the work on test prep achieved our goal of creating better…