At a public hearing on language and literacy, held in Houston, Texas, April 16, 1982, testimony was presented on: (1) need for emphasis on language arts in elementary secondary schools and for students with bilingual capabilities; (2) benefits accruing to students and educational institutions through developmental education programs; (3) guiding…

Descriptions of comprehensive writing programs at nine colleges and universities and an essay on the topic are presented. Comprehensive writing programs transcend a single department or discipline and are designed to enhance liberal learning. Such programs not only teach students to write in the appropriate modes of various disciplines, but also…

This paper argues that computers can be a useful tool for encouraging students to be active and independent learners, particularly in language learning. The key is to find appropriate activities and content to motivate students to learn actively and independently. Access to computers may present challenging obstacles for some teachers (supply,…

This book contains articles from Europe and North America that focus on writing instruction in Danish, French, Italian, German, and English as foreign or second languages at all levels of instruction. The aim of this volume is mainly to encourage an understanding of an expanded function of writing in the field of language education, in theoretical…

Highly practical and accessible, this indispensable book provides clear-cut strategies for improving K-12 writing instruction. The contributors are leading authorities who demonstrate proven ways to teach different aspects of writing, with chapters on planning, revision, sentence construction, handwriting, spelling, and motivation. The use of the…

The Commanding English Program at the University of Minnesota is designed to meet the educational and social needs of academically underprepared students whose native language is not English. Most of the students in this population are Southeast Asian refugees with interrupted education who have finished high school in the United States. The…

In fall 1991 and spring 1992, an interdisciplinary art-and-writing collaborative project was initiated by an English instructor at Yakima Valley Community College (YVCC) and a graphics instructor at Everett Community College (ECC), both in Washington State. The project involved a graphics art class at ECC and a writing class from YVCC, pairing…

Formative evaluation of program implementation and student performance was used to assess a new writing program used in 11 elementary schools in Hillsborough County (Florida). Twenty-one teachers and 600 students in grades 4 and 5 participated. Teachers were interviewed, and students completed an attitude survey. In addition, 4 writing samples…

The writing learning objectives for ninth graders contained in this volume are congruent with the Texas "State Board of Education Rules for Curriculum." These objectives and the measurement specifications are provided for use by teachers and other educators responsible for student instruction and for test development specialists involved…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 30 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) cognitive predictors of writing ability, (2) peer evaluation and teacher evaluation of the first drafts of high school compositions, (3) writing as a tool for…

Designed primarily for English faculty at two-year colleges in California, "Inside English" includes articles on instructional innovations and major curricular, administrative, and employment issues of concern to teachers in the field as well as information on the activities of the English Council of the California Two-Year Colleges (ECCTYC). The…

College teachers of English for Science and Technology (EST) are encouraged to conduct research in preparation for designing appropriate writing instruction. Specific recommendations are made for creating such a program, providing adequate support, and organizing its content, with examples offered from the program in computer science writing at…

A computer-oriented, classroom-based research project was conducted at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, Virginia, to explore the ways in which students in a composition and literature class might use a local area network (LAN) as a catalyst to critical thinking, to construct a decentralized classroom, and to use various forms of…

As national teacher education and government organizations continue to endorse technology integration in K-12 settings, university doctoral programs in English education face a complex task. They are being called upon to prepare scholars who will contribute meaningfully to the latest corpus of research and also to prepare teacher educators who…

The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) was developed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), in response to Texas House Bill 72 (1984), which mandated a new basic skills assessment program for mathematics, reading, and writing at grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. This document is one in a series of Instructional Strategies Guides…