Observed English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing classes in Canada in order to document what the ESL instructors do when they teach. Findings reveal that the instructors gave more attention to collectively constructing language paradigms and to guiding individual development than other routines, and attracted student's attention in one way or…

Discusses the relationship of writing to learning as a means of motivating lecturers to develop language-related skills. Describes a writing process aimed at overcoming the problem of large classes by getting students of English as a Second Language to write in groups. (nine references) (Author/CK)

Describes an extracurricular writing program launched in a Chinese university for English-as-a-Foreign-Language students. Particular emphasis is on "English corner," the most popular activity. (Author/VWL)

The goal of the study reported in this article is to analyze ways students in the first course of a three-quarter college preparatory sequence in reading and writing write about their experiences in their essays. The student participants were three native speakers of English and three native speakers of Punjabi, who had lived and studied in the…

A study investigated the frequent choice of the term "always" instead of the more appropriate term "often" in the essay writing of native Chinese-speaking learners of English as a Second Language (ESL), focusing on how problematic usage of "always" can adversely affect perceptions of the student's competence in…

This paper opens with a brief description of three administrative options for implementing bibliographic instruction programs for college level students: (1) composition instructors teach their students research methods without working with librarians; (2) librarians offer separate library skills courses to the general student body; and (3)…

Despite a growing trend to split the two areas, literature belongs in the composition class. In responding to literature, students can trace their own developing thought. They acquire, through literary discourse, a tool of discovery. This tool closely resembles expressive discourse, the mode, as James Kinneavy suggests in "A Theory of…

This report focuses on the state-supported Undergraduate Writing Program at Illinois State University (ISU). Several innovations have contributed to the expansion and improvement of ISU's Undergraduate Writing Program, whose key components are: the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program in the College of Arts and Sciences; the use of microcomputers…

Two case studies of students learning to write academic discourse, particularly to maintain cohesion and relevance, are described. The two college students were part of a fourth-year biology class: one was a native English speaker, and the other spoke English as a second language. Both had a good command of spoken English grammar at the sentence…

This text is the fifth of a comprehensive series of materials designed for teaching English to international students in the American Language Institute of New York University. The series constitutes the Institute's Elementary Program; mastery of its contents is the requisite for undertaking all subsequent work in English at the intermediate and…

Analysis of errors collected from English essays of native Arabic-speaking university students and their translations from Arabic into English identified 14 error classifications, with the vast majority of errors attributable to negative transfer or interference from Arabic. (CB)

A single-class method to help students clarify their thinking so they can identify quality work is presented. Unless students are familar with the criteria being applied to their work, their assignment work is unlikely to show improvement. (MLW)

This paper reports on a study that investigated whether male and female professors teach differently within English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) university classrooms in Taiwan. It was hypothesized that female teachers would be more likely to employ feminist teaching practices in their composition classes and be rated as competent and favorable by…

Investigated the effect of grammatical and discourse features on rater perceptions of writing quality in evaluating foreign language writing samples. Also investigated differences in rating profiles between native and nonnative speaking raters. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the assessment of writing skills of incoming English-as-a-Second-Language college students in the United States and Canada. The article discusses the traditional impromptu essay and its alternatives, portfolio assessment and the Undergraduate Academic Writing Assessment (UAWA). The UAWA reveals students' previously unknown strengths and…