A study examined the patterns of error in the preterite and imperfect tenses in the written Spanish of native English-speaking college students. Errors found in the midterm examination were analyzed to determine whether they were due to incorrect tense, incorrect form of the tense, or both. It was predicted that many students would choose…

Stylistic features that impede the efficiency of communication in writing were studied in the essays of a sophomore class in reading and essay writing in English as a second language (ESL) at Birzeit University (Israel). It was hypothesized that in ESL writing, college students apply many strategies of communication more typical of the spoken mode…

An analysis of schema theory at the compositional and sentence levels and its implications for Japanese readers of English prose is presented. The study looks at differences between Japanese and English syntax and concludes with five recommendations for English reading instruction for this group. The recommendations include: (1) pursuing the…

The effect of microcomputer word processing on college students' writing was investigated with three sections of a required freshman English course at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Half of the subjects were randomly selected to use the university microcomputer in a laboratory setting to write eight essays, while the other half worked in…

Research on the topic of writing apprehension--general tendency to anxiety that is triggered by the situation of writing--has recently been stimulated by the development of a self-report scale to measure it. Research in the effects of writing apprehension reveals that students who are anxious about writing choose coursework, majors, and…

The basic components of the basic writing program at Rutgers University, designed to prepare disadvantaged students for the core course in English, are a combination of reading and writing activities with as much individualized instruction as possible. The components include three courses, a learning center, and an annual workshop in the teaching…

The use of a computerized system is described in which students rate each other's term papers via the computer program PEERRATE, which creates a matrix of intervals between ratings received and calculates final ratings incorporating a mean and standard deviation selected by the instructor for the class. As described, the program includes: (1)…

A study of the effects of four methods of correcting free writing assignments in college German is reported. Results indicate student progress is enhanced by writing practice alone. Corrections did not increase writing accuracy, writing fluency, or general language proficiency, and may have a negative effect on student attitudes. (MSE)

Emphasizes that private liberal arts colleges must compensate for declining enrollments by admitting students who are underprepared for college-level work, and discusses financial and attitudinal barriers to doing so. Reviews the problems encountered by Skidmore College and its responses, including its basic writing curriculum, writing lab, and…

Writing demands the simultaneous control of several skills: focus and logic, as well as spelling and grammar. The central writing skill is to look at what has been said and see how it can be improved by drafting and redrafting. (MLW)

Drawing from 10 widely used freshman writing textbooks, this article demonstrates the problem of implicitness existing in regard to 2 notions central to writing instruction in the United States: "voice" and "audience." The article enumerates ways in which textbook presentations of these concepts disadvantage second-language…

Examines whether training teachers to apply research-based commenting guidelines can help them write comments between composition drafts that result in effective revisions. While results are inconclusive, they do indicate that students of English as a Second Language respond to teacher comments between drafts and write revisions according to the…

Investigated the learning experiences of 23 Japanese students in a one-year academic exchange program in a Canadian university. Participants either wrote an opinion task or a summary task at the beginning of the program using preselected source texts. Analyses of interview data and comparisons of the original and revised texts indicate that…

Examined effects of computers on writing efficiency and quality among intermediate learners of Japanese. Subjects corresponded with Japanese peers by email and took computer and hand-written tests. Response times, accuracy rates, and t-units were compared. Results suggest learners benefited from computer writing. (VWL)

Presents and discusses the "street scripts" of five African American urban high school and college students, writings that reflect personal perspectives on urban life and crime. These young people know that their lives, desires, and dreams are quite different from those that have been constructed in the public spaces of politics and the…