An audio stimulus activity involves listening to a taped narrative and then responding to several questions. Narratives can be tailored to accommodate their varied audiences, since audiences are more "tuned in" when they are participating in activities to which they can relate. As a group project, students in a listening course at the…

Puts forth a plan for raising student consciousness about audience through peer evaluation sessions. Targets three areas of effective autobiographical writing: an engaging opening; focus; and showing, not telling. Discusses grading rubrics for these categories appropriate for student readers. (TB)

Analyzes argumentative essays written to both friendly and hostile audiences by high school seniors and college undergraduates. Finds level of intellectual development a more significant predictor of holistic paper scores than demographic variables. (MS)

Gives seven responses from practicing English teachers concerning ways that they have implemented the writing of various kinds of letters by students into the English curriculum. Demonstrates the efficacy and success of such methods. (HB)

Revision poses a curious problem for the theorist because it is as difficult to define as it is to direct. Not only does it imply and require re-vision, or re-seeing, but also the prior existence of a vision, a "seeing," encoded in text. The theoretical problem of revision is further exacerbated by the issues of discourse convention and…

Noting that fear of public speaking is shared by people of all types, the second edition of this book offers practical, easy-to-follow strategies for confident and effective public speaking. The book discusses the following aspects of public speaking: what to talk about; how to research a topic; how to organize a speech; how to keep an audience…

Asserts that role-playing peer-response groups provide effective feedback and help students develop a sense of the characteristics of a particular audience. Illustrates with a sample lesson (a college application essay) by outlining five steps of the process. Offers other uses of the role-playing peer-response groups method. (PRA)

Describes two projects undertaken with the author's high school English classes in which students chose writing they wished to share with their own community, and then published it, in one case selling their class anthology to selected businesses around town. Describes the increase in enthusiasm for writing and care and professionalism caused by…

Focuses on "emphasis and interest" as elements of power in writing that moves the reader along "roads of news." Suggests revisions in selected sentences from student publications, revisions which improve the sentences to give more information in opening sentences and nonrepetitive amplification in following sentences. Cites…

Based on the idea that to be successful, a student organization must have a sound public relations and publicity program, this handbook considers techniques of internal communication that establish good public relations with various special groups: the student body, the administration, the faculty, and the staff. The handbook states that…

Whether an educator teaches journalism, English, or language arts, this guide will help him/her help middle school and high school students get the most from journalism study and practice informed by English language arts standards. The guide is organized into 12 chapters, each focusing on how the kinds of student journalism work advocated by the…

Investigates the similarities and differences in cognitive processing during reading and writing activities as reported in the think-aloud protocols of an above-average and a below-average student. Concludes that the above-average student reported more behaviors and more behaviors that facilitated meaning-making than the below-average student. (RS)

Examines three writing assignment variables--topic, purpose, and audience--to determine how writing prompts affect student performance in grades 7, 9, and 11, and in college freshmen. Finds these variables influenced writing quality at different grades in different ways; generally, specific purpose and topic cues produced better essays. (SR)

A recent article in the "Assemby for Computers in English (ACE) Newsletter" explains what most instructors of English already know--that students in most writing classes produce papers for which the primary purpose is the teacher. As the Internet becomes more widely available, students will have more access to what Howard Rheingold calls…

Advancement of students' abilities to cope with the demands of exposition and argument is noted when they are encouraged to accept mixed diction within a framework of activities that interrelate thinking, speaking, reading, writing, and listening, in the context of the immediate audience of class and teacher. Research indicates that when a weak…