The English Department and the composition class are mired in the trappings of Romanticism. Romanticism ingratiates itself, mostly in infatuation with the writing process, but with some other fetishes as well. The "whitecentric" character of that Romanticism imbues instruction; it is not just innocuous and "old hat," but really damaging. Students…

A study examined whether the adoption of an Afrocentric textbook at a historically Black university motivated freshman composition students to read, write, and think. Subjects, 911 out of 1,305 students who completed English 002 during the 1991-92 academic year at Howard University, completed surveys regarding the textbook "Revelations: An…

A faculty member at the University of Toronto (Ontario) developed an informal survey designed to assess her undergraduate students' views of the writing they did during the course of their university studies. The survey consisted of a 2-page questionnaire that could be completed in 5 to 10 minutes; it was administered to 722 students during the…

An ongoing study evaluated the effectiveness of a writing across the curriculum (WAC) program at a small liberal arts college. Fifty-five out of 99 full-time faculty responded to a survey seeking to compare WAC faculty who had voluntarily participated in at least a 3-day workshop to faculty not involved in the WAC program. Pre- and post-workshop…

Creative writing has fallen out of favor with teachers of composition because they have tended to link creative writing to the belletristic tradition of the nineteenth century. But if the nineteenth century can be accused of taking invention out of the writing process, as many scholars have asserted, it is possible to assert that the twentieth…

A case study of a senior in mechanical engineering was undertaken to test the hypothesis that rhetorical theory can help students make sense of specialized discourse. The essay the subject finally produced concerning the rhetorical features in a technical engineering paper extended the claim she made at the beginning of the study: the text of the…

Writing instructors and students alike need to cross the line between composition and creative writing far more often than they do. As students indicate in their essays, composition is often viewed as an unpleasant task, while creative writing is perceived as more enjoyable. Among teachers, creative writing instructors are phobic of critical…

A study was conducted to determine and compare the literacy beliefs, knowledge bases, and practices of early childhood educators who espouse emergent literacy and reading readiness philosophies; to explore the relationship among beliefs, knowledge bases, and practices; and to examine the degree to which beliefs, knowledge bases, and practices were…

Describes the use of a real-time Local Area Network (LAN) in a basic reading and writing course. Argues that student use of real-time networks encourages democratization. Suggests that real-time writing offers opportunities to learn about writing, communication, topic exploration, brainstorming, and the role of identities in discourse. (SG)

A study investigated the writing done by third graders and the processes used when learning to use writing as a meaning-making activity. Four focal students were followed through composing episodes. The classroom was located in a suburban, upper middle class area in Ohio. Less than 3% of the school district population were members of a minority…

A study examines teacher's and children's interactions with the use of the writing journal in a pre-k classroom (ages 3 to 4). Eight pre-school children and three teachers in a university lab school were observed twice a week for 1-hour sessions over a 6-month period. The use of the writing journal was a part of the total learning environment…

Acting as a team, a graduate research methods class at Florida State University studied a first-year imaginative writing course, "Writing from Life," designed to help students write autobiography, fiction, and poetry. In the course of this study, intriguing differences became apparent between the attitudes and approaches in this class…

A study compared writing scores and attitudes of second grade students in a traditional writing classroom and a writing process classroom. Subjects, 25 second-grade students in a writing process classroom and 26 students in a traditional classroom from the same rural school, were instructed in their respective classrooms for 6 months. Most…

A new "remedial" or marginal group has emerged in teacher certification, known in Texas as Alternate Certification. In the Texas program, university graduates earn a certificate upon completion of a rigid state-mandated program. A group of 25 graduate students and their teacher set out to examine their notions of literacy, its…

Professional literature reporting the use of the "cliff-hanger" as genre as a teaching tool in writing instruction is relatively quiet. College students may become better writers and readers when they write cliff-hangers and allow other students to read their writing. Sixty-five undergraduate reading students at a southeastern Arkansas…