Discusses one attempt to find innovative answers for questions regarding advanced English-as-a-Second-Language writing-placement testing. (MG)

Reviews approximately 15 years of exploration of children's emergent writing and the transition into conventional writing, covering the period from infancy through first grade. Illustrates a progression from descriptions of children's proficiencies to collaborations between classroom- and university-based educators that are aimed at increasing…

Shares the experiences of one writer and how children have shown her the many ways of creating a story. Shares methods of helping children find a voice for the stories they have to tell. (MG)

Investigates the written syntax of 81 college-able individuals demonstrating a specific learning disability. Supports a control impairment hypothesis, predicting that sentence production errors will be of the same kind as found in the language of writers demonstrating no handicapping conditions. Investigates the correlation of specific cognitive…

Investigated relationship between Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised (WJ-R) cognitive clusters (Long-Term Retrieval, Short-Term Memory, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing, Processing Speed, Comprehension-Knowledge, Fluid Reasoning) and written language achievement measures in WJ-R standardization sample. Found significant…

Compares the discourse knowledge and self-regulation of good and poor writers, as well as the quality and length of their final texts; 48 junior-college students wrote a comparative text. Results showed that poor writers were no more linear than good writers, and no less actively self-regulated their writing. Good writers produced larger texts of…

Presents the concept of directiveness (regarding the behavior of a consultant/tutor in a writing conference) as a continuum that can be defined in terms of particular characteristics. Examines students' and tutors' attitudes regarding the directiveness of tutors. Finds perceptions between consultants and students differed considerably on a number…

We obtained data on the writing of 110 deaf or hard-of-hearing students attending public schools who completed the spontaneous writing portion of the Test of Written Language. The average written quotient for the sample was in the below-average range but within 1 standard deviation of the test mean. Forty-nine percent of the sample received…

This paper recounts the process by which a severely reading-disabled adult student taught himself to read and write Ancient Greek, and in so doing, improved his ability to read and write in English. Initially, Keith's reading and writing were slow, difficult and inaccurate, accompanied by visual disturbance. However, motivated by a strong interest…

The Science Foundation Programme (SFP) at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg attempts to address past educational inequalities by providing disadvantaged matriculants with the skills, resources and self-confidence needed to embark on their tertiary studies. Students entering the Programme typically adopt a surface approach to…

A course of study to enhance the effectiveness of the traditional third grade reader and workpack as instructional tools was designed for this practicum. The goal was to create a familiarity with the purpose and function of varied print media available within the community, thereby creating a foundation upon which the students (30 third graders)…

This document describes a study undertaken by Florida community colleges to analyze student reading rates, which currently vary by ethnicity. To assess this concept, median scores for students who failed the College Placement Test (CPT) were compared between different ethic backgrounds across all Florida community colleges. All areas of the CPT…

Surveys 2735 American and Canadian colleges/universities about whether they had a writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) program, asking for a list of WAC courses, what respondents thought about the influence of such courses on student learning and writing abilities, and about linking WAC and journalism/mass communication courses. Finds strong…

Three Spanish/English bilingual kindergarten children were interviewed to discover their views on learning to write. Texts of interviews are presented. (PCB)

The representational abilities of 24 preschool children were investigated in relation to their ability to use their knowledge of graphic notation. Although the children came from similar backgrounds, their responses showed varying constructs about the appropriate graphic notation to use in referential tasks. (SLD)