Discusses similarities among writing, texts, and containers. Claims that containerization is a central metaphor in composition studies. Argues that this metaphor constrains the way texts are understood and treated. Examines alternatives to the text-as-container metaphor. (HB)

The reactions of children to a written interchange that they redid by co-opting riddles, that is a genre which is unavoidably dialogic, is focused. The research conducted for the same through exchange of e-mail letters is discussed in detail.

The article consists of two parts: One introduces the concept of positioning as a framework for inspecting and relating major tendencies regarding research on writing; the other gives a historic outline of how research on writing in Norway first emerged. The triadic semiotics of Buhler, Bakhtin, Habermas, and Halliday are combined, and then…

Much of the writing research on generation 1.5 students has focused on college students in educational contexts, especially either freshman composition or college ESL writing classes. Relatively little is known about them in K-12 settings, especially high-school students, despite their growing presence in these settings. In addition, there is a…

To create not a text-bound but a reader-based procedure for identifying global coherence within a discourse, five major writing tasks of 13 college students enrolled in a basic skills composition course were evaluated by three readers--doctoral students and faculty members in English and Reading Education. After choosing the five most and the five…

Significant findings in recent research concentrate on how writing is taught in school and how it might best be taught. Research on writing over the past fifteen years has shifted emphasis from product to process. The writing process can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. Prewriting (everything that takes place…

A study attempted to measure the effects of contingency management, conditions that essentially forced subjects to write, on their writing productivity and creative ideas. Subjects were 27 published college faculty with doctorates, divided into three groups of nine. The first or contingency group participated in a "baseline phase" during which…

Presents a poem, "Henry and Edith in Casper," and discusses the composing processes that led to its creation. (SRT)

Analyzes research on the behavior of writers and applies it to the development of writing curriculum. Includes an outline of an example of goals and objectives for teaching writing based on such an analysis. (MD)

This article discusses how ethnographic research can provide valuable insights into the nature and function of writing which can, in turn, be used to improve writing instruction in schools. (MT)

For an instructor who is working to reconcile "collaboration" and "feminism" in composition studies, it is necessary to explore how this critical coupling provides potential conflicts in theories and pedagogical practices. The following three premises need to be explored: (1) feminist collaborative methods and theorizing may…

Researchers seem to discuss only rarely the actual activities and strategies involved in the research process. Part of the problem is in the current conception of research method, which continues to insist that empirical methods are neutral procedures for obtaining results. At every step of the research process, researchers discursively construct…

Discusses research on the nature and strategies of children's invented spelling, including a developmental model of such spelling. Suggests ways to encourage invented spelling, while examining whether it will interfere with learning to read and write standard spelling. (HTH)

A new teacher refutes the claim that graduate schools do not adequately prepare graduate students for the realities of writing instruction. (HTH)

Relates one participant's impressions of an international conference on writing that was held in May 1979 at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Notes the differences between American and British writing research. (RL)