Since writing ability has been found to be a key indicator of school success and successful participation in the workplace, it is important for preservice teachers to receive effective preparation in the area of writing. Reflecting on personal writing experiences allows preservice teachers to examine their own attitudes and beliefs about writing…

The process approach to writing instruction is one of the most popular methods for teaching writing. The authors conducted meta-analysis of 29 experimental and quasi-experimental studies conducted with students in Grades 1-12 to examine if process writing instruction improves the quality of students' writing and motivation to write. For students…

The "Barton Reading & Spelling System"[R] is a one-to-one tutoring system designed to improve the reading, writing and spelling skills of children, teenagers, or adults who struggle due to dyslexia or another learning disability. Although the program is designed to be one-to-one, it may also be used in a small group setting, but each…

This article examines the outcomes of an eight-month professional development initiative, designed to support six Writing Project teachers' classroom inquiry projects, each focused on improving an aspect of student writing. We begin by introducing the genesis of these classroom research projects as well as the structure and content of the support…

During this decade there have been numerous efforts to identify instructional practices that improve students' writing. These include "Reading Next" (Biancarosa and Snow, 2004), which provided a set of instructional recommendations for improving writing, and "Writing Next" (Graham and Perin, 2007) and "Writing to Read" (Graham and Hebert, 2010),…

The aim of this study was to improve students' English as Foreign Language (EFL) writing and speaking performance with appropriate learning activity design supported by Virtual Pen ("VPen"), a multimedia web annotation system. Students' perceptions toward using "VPen" and learning activities, attitude toward using "VPen," actual "VPen" usage and…

This study examined outcomes of using a generative multimedia environment for writing. Students in grades 9 to 12 enrolled in a special education language arts class participated in an eight-week intervention during which they wrote five stories that included pictures, audio, and text. Stories were scored using a Hawaii standards-based rubric…

English foreign language learners generally tend to consider email exchanges with native speakers (NSs) as an effective tool for improving their foreign language proficiency. This study investigated Jordanian university students' perceptions of using email exchanges with native English keypals (NEKs) for improving their writing competency. A…

Hip Hop Based Pedagogy is a significant movement in the United States that uses hip hop texts not as "gimmicks to entice students to be compliant and cooperate" but for their expression of "enduring and comprehensive themes" (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p. ix). Texts that draw on students' popular cultures can be used in a manner…

Transforming Writing is a two-year action research project which aims to develop a model for the teaching and learning of writing that more fully incorporates a focus on embedded formative assessment. In the first year of the project, the 12 participating schools developed a model of writing underpinned by Talk for Writing, an approach developed…

Although Congress has dedicated substantial funds over the past decade to improve reading skills for struggling students in kindergarten through grade three, this targeted investment has not resulted in the final goal--ensuring students leave high school prepared for college and careers. In fact, six out of twenty-two million of America's middle…

This article offers a critical appraisal of some of the Rose Report's recommendations for the primary English curriculum. It is divided into two parts. The first discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the recommendations whilst raising questions about their potential to bring about urgently needed curriculum renewal. The second is a reflective…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of cursive handwriting programs in improving letter legibility and form in third-grade students without identified handwriting problems. Four months into the school year, cursive handwriting was assessed for a sample of convenience of 50 third-grade students. Subsequently, students received…

Typically, essays are used as summative rather than formative assessments and students experience them as tasks rather than learning opportunities. Thus, the aim of this study was to see whether providing students with detailed formative feedback and an opportunity to resubmit their essay would improve their essays writing skills. Twenty-six out…

It is our belief that the story of how the composition faculty convinced administration to move from a rubric-based assessment model to a more qualitative model is both interesting and beneficial for others facing similar challenges. In the following five articles, Katie discusses how the experience of such assessment affected the faculty, Jeff…