The traditional method of teaching writing to students in universities by correcting their errors supposes a generally well-developed sense of written language structure and formal English language discourse. The new population seeking higher education does not always possess such a background. An alternative instructional method is to use the…

An exploratory study of the composing activities of Chinese postgraduate English-as-a-foreign-language students as they produced academic written texts in both their first and foreign languages revealed that there was considerable variation among writers in their approach to the task of producing written text and a limited awareness of the nature…

Presents a four-task typology (concept, relation, process, argumentation) of essay examination prompts, based on study of 284 prompts used in 15 academic departments at Western Illinois University, and shows how it can be used to help foreign students sharpen their English-language essay examination-taking skills. (CB)

The Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) measures reading, mathematics, and writing skills through multiple-choice test items and a writing test essay. It is administered, by law, to students entering Texas public institutions of higher education before they complete 9 semester hours. Passing all sections indicates a general readiness to perform…

Provides information on how to spot the kinds of errors that occur in student compositions as the result of word-for-word translations from on-line translation programs such as "Babelfish." Provides a brief history of such programs, explains how they function, and offers solutions to this problem facing foreign language teachers. (Author/VWL)

Despite research to the contrary, most college teachers assume students have more basic knowledge then they do, and they assign essays accordingly. One instructor discusses the poor results of students' knowledge testing, noting his institution's low admission requirements and questioning today's lax standards in the face of the information age.…

An innovative orientation program for freshmen at the University of Puget Sound called Passages and Preludes mixes outdoor fun with academic work. They meet in small groups with faculty members who introduce them to college-level reading and writing. For another two days the students hike, sail, fish and canoe. (MLW)

Recent composition and literary theory suggests that the "I" of written discourse is illusory and does not represent an autonomous self. Argues for the development of a self-conscious voice in college writers that interprets in addition to merely recording events, a voice enabling students to enter into dialogue with teachers, texts, and…

A study examined specific word- and sentence-level features most frequently used in the expository writing of 87 college students with learning disabilities, 50 with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 58 with both disabilities, and 92 controls. Very high correlations were found between verbosity, quality, and lexical complexity. (Contains…

This article contends that students whose discourses differ from the dominant academic discourses of school may develop negative writer identities as a result of their language struggles in the academy. Using Critical Discourse analysis, the study explores the writer identities of two college writers in order to understand how embedded ideologies…

Based on the premise that teachers gain useful insights by considering what students notice when evaluating a written text, this pilot project reports on the implementation of an evaluative activity with one group of students and considers the implications of the results for classroom practice. Thirteen students in a university-level Spanish…

This article addresses the learning of second language (L2) writing skills to show how pictures can be used as an effective guided writing tool to facilitate students' writing process and to improve their writing proficiency. A study was conducted with 53 university students who had a prior knowledge of Spanish in secondary school. All students…

This paper discusses writing partnerships consisting of preservice English teachers who are in the Composition (or Grammar) course for the English Teacher, a 300-level course, and students in Written Communication 101 or 102. The paper presents a concept of writing partnerships which does not merely replicate collaborative learning since the…

A study investigated attitudes toward and practices of plagiarism of Japanese college students writing in English. Data were drawn from two senior theses written in English and two in Japanese, 30 other student academic papers, interviews with students, and a questionnaire administered to 46 undergraduate and graduate students. In both…

This paper compares the prescribed American and Chinese letter writing formats as outlined in texts and examines actual letters from American and Chinese writers to determine how they compared to these formats and, if they differed, to identify possible reasons for these differences. After teaching students of Mandarin Chinese a basic lesson on…