The purpose of this research was to discover whether the children (aged 9 to 11) were thinking while taking part in practical science activities. One method the author used was to video the activity and then watch the replay with each child in turn. She was then able to ask them what they had been thinking about at each stage. The majority of the…

When Botswana gained independence from the British in 1966, a political decision was taken to designate English as an official language and Setswana, one of the indigenous languages, as a national language. This move disregarded the multilingual nature of Botswana society. Furthermore, although not explicitly stated, the use of other languages…

Viewing language as both presentational and representational, or as having both manifest and latent content, can help writing instructors and student writers appreciate its full function and better understand the nature of writing errors. This essential duality of language usage is seen by its functions consisting of unconscious (primary process)…

Translating legal and bureaucratic language into plain, comprehensible English is not amenable to simple rules and procedures. Rewriting comprehensibly requires specialized knowledge about language and an awareness of a number of misconceptions and pitfalls. This paper discusses what not to do in rewriting, based upon rewritten documents presently…

This paper presents 111 specific activities to help elementary students develop their creative writing skills. For each activity, suggestions are given for ways to begin and to develop the activity and for follow-up. Other sections of the paper discuss the type of classroom climate which is conducive to the development of creative writing skills,…

Typically, teachers approach ambiguity in student writing by suggesting that students focus on diction, syntax, and writing format; however, the works of modernists (including T.S. Eliot, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Marx, and Pablo Picasso) suggest the importance of conceptions of semantic clarity. Transformational models for syntactic elements in…

Skilled and unskilled writers were given detailed information about an urban planning project and then read a letter from an influential, interested, and potentially hostile writer requesting information about the project. Each writer was next asked to generate all the ideas needed to answer the letter, organize a framework for the letter from a…

THE SCOPE OF THE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM CENTER'S RESEARCH PROGRAM IN TEACHING COMPOSITION TO THE BEGINNING WRITER IS DEFINED IN THE EIGHT PAPERS COMPRISING THIS COLLECTION. THE TOPICS FOR THE PAPERS ARE--(1) LIMITING THE AIMS OF TEACHING COMPOSITION IN THE SEVENTH- AND EIGHTH-GRADES TO INCLUDE ONLY NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE WRITING AND…

Much recent research into college writing has focused on syntactic measurements. Significant problems inherent in such use of these indices arise for their validity at and beyond the college level and center on the terms "maturity,""complexity," and "growth.""Maturity" has not been satisfactorily defined, nor has the level of competence been…

The purposes of this study were (1) to provide a method for the quantitative study of grammatical (syntactic) structures which is coherent, systematic, and broad, yet capable of refinement to accommodate details, and (2) to search for the developmental trends in the frequency of various grammatical structures written by students of average…

The identification and study of 20 syntactical patterns responsible for much of the structural ambiguity found in literary composition can develop in students an audience awareness. When they realize that such constructions as "a dull boy's knife" and "the club will be open to members from Monday to Thursday" can be misinterpreted, they take more…

Describes a teaching method that uses the student's growing need to use the language as motivation. (CRH)

An analysis of the written compositions of German students (aged 16+, in their fourth or sixth year of English as a foreign language) with regard to their use of the progressive form. Four problem areas are enumerated, and it is suggested that these be included in pedagogic grammars. (KM)

Submits classroom research on students' recognition of cliches. Notes that many beginning writers are unfamiliar with many cliches. Suggests that teachers should be aware of students' limited language experiences and adjust their teaching methods accordingly. (RL)

Discusses the collected research on free modifiers and "minor sentences," or "formal fragments." Asks English teachers for less concentration on initial placement of modifiers, less rigidity concerning fragments, and more practice with punctuating final free modifiers. (RL)