The structure of any and all written discourse can be described using four basic relationships (those implied by "therefore,""but,""and then," and "and") and three combined relations between sentences and clusters of sentences. (DD)

Composing is controlled by information feedback from prior behavior which serves to influence future behavior. This model posits movement toward a desired end product through a continual interchange of writing and examining and evaluating what has been written against internal standards. A study was conducted to determine the extent to which…

A framework for the study of discourse, based on the analysis of three superordinate features of discourse (asymmetry, hierarchy, and continuum), is proposed in this paper. The paper begins by noting the confusion in terminology that exists in the world of composition pedagogy and theory; pointing to the need for a framework for testing,…

Today's paragraph is not a logical unity, and we should stop telling our students that it is. (DD)

Presents an informal history and criticism of a rhetorical style that proposed a set of rules designed to pin words and syntax down so that a writer's meaning could not be misconstrued. Describes how the style was appropriated for textbook use by an innovative group of American writers during the mid-nineteenth century. (AEW)

The use of prose models in the English as a second language writing class has been criticized for promoting product-based rather than process-based learning. However, the process-centered approach has a number of drawbacks, and prose models can solve some of these inherent problems. Properly designed models can be an essential part of a writing…

A discussion of how one perceive YsI form versus formlessness in discourse." (Author/RD)

Urges secondary school English teachers to encourage students to experiment more with repetition as a writing technique. (SW)

In a study conducted to show the importance of sentence connections as a way of looking at a writer's cognitive processes, three devices used to achieve coherence in written discourse were compared and proved to be unequally effective. The devices were cohesion (use of a textual reference in a sentence that has an antecedent in a preceding…

This two-part volume (also published separately as "Let's Write English, Book 1," and "Let's Write English, Book 2") is designed to carry the non-native speaker of English from the beginning stages of writing English to "full competence in fullfilling the writing requirements in university and professional life." The…

The authors describe a situation where the class they were teaching developed, through class discussion, the techniques to write a theme. (MF)

Provides several research questions regarding discourse theory, which can be answered by classroom teachers of writing using their students' writing. (DD)

A principal cause of the seeming "foreignness" in the compositions of English as a second language (ESL) university students is discussed, and an approach to correcting the problem is suggested. It is asserted that the English language compositions of ESL students reflect native language rhetorical norms which are culturally based. Discourse bloc…

This study examines a process-oriented ESL writing assessment called the Computerized Enhanced ESL Placement Test (CEEPT). The CEEPT at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or its non-computerized alternative (EEPT) have since 2000 offered a daylong process-oriented writing assessment in which test takers are given extended time to plan,…