An informal study explored the difficulties of writing teachers who are asked to set aside preferred ways of viewing student writing for state-mandated criteria when serving as evaluators for state-mandated tests, such as Florida's College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST). Twelve high school, community college, and university-level writing…

A study examined: (1) what concepts of authorship were revealed in the oral and written language of children engaged in a bookmaking task and pre- and post-bookmaking interviews; and (2) how these concepts differ for good readers and writers in different grades. The study was conducted at two elementary schools in a small, middle-class Texas city.…

A study examined whether students, when removed from a video-based context, were able to transfer the writing-related objectives taught within a curriculum to similar writing tasks. Subjects were 24 sixth-grade, learning disabled students enrolled in a resource room language arts program who participated during the first year of a project.…

Investigates the ability of children at two grades and reading ability levels to write functionally appropriate expository texts. Finds that (1) virtually all the children understand the function and audience for exposition; and (2) reading level is significantly more related than grade level to sophisticated use of cohesion, organization, and a…

As part of the mandate of the Alberta Government's Student Evaluation Branch to monitor changes in student achievement, the Humanities Diploma Examinations Unit compared the written work from 1984 and the 1990 English 30, Social Studies 30, and English 33 Canadian provincial diploma examinations. Full-length essays written by over 30,000 students…

A study compared the writing development and ideas about writing of students in a whole language program with students in a skills-oriented program from the time they entered kindergarten to the end of the second grade. Subjects were 22 inner city students who completed second grade out of an original kindergarten cohort of 50 minority students…

To evaluate the writing abilities of American students, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) asked nationally representative samples of fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders--approximately 20,000 students in all--to perform a variety of informative, persuasive, and narrative writing tasks. In addition, students were asked about the…

A study examined the impact of written feedback on goals and self-efficacy, and the impact of goals and self-efficacy on changes in writing performance. Subjects were 137 students in a second-semester freshman-level college English composition class and 5 second-semester graduate assistant teachers. Consistent with social learning theory, results…

Describes a Canadian study attempting to relate the motivating power of interest to children's writing performance by supplementing background knowledge with topic relevant information. Reports that children with tutorial support on high interest subjects performed no better than others. Concludes that the motivational power of interesting topics…

Effective writing is a typical goal in undergraduate education, especially in general education program. In a survey recently conducted at the University of South Florida, one faculty member said, "I responded [to this survey] because I strongly believe that writing skills are essential for all college students regardless of their major field…

Studies the effects of listening to and discussing different qualities of children's literature on fifth grade students' writing. Finds that stories written by children who heard and discussed higher quality literature were rated significantly differently on traits related to literary quality and genre development than those written by children…

Investigates the effects of explicit story structure instruction on below-average fourth and fifth grade readers' narrative writing performance. Finds that explicit story structure instruction positively influenced the narrative writing performance in terms of both quality and quantity of their writing. (MG)

Reports the results of an analysis of science-related writing tasks of boys and girls. Indicates there were gendered differences in writing style and content, but similarities in quality. Reveals a narrower gender gap than that found when observing science and writing separately. Discusses practices for minimizing gendered differences in the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of increased phonemic awareness instruction on the writing ability of At Risk first graders. Twenty-three students from a suburban first grade classroom in Central New Jersey were involved in the study. Twelve at risk students were divided into two groups, each of which received one half hour of…

A course of study was researched, designed, and implemented to improve the writing of fifth-grade students. Objectives of the program were to develop more positive feelings about writing while increasing the quantity, quality, and variety of writing. Cooperative learning and process writing was discussed with the participants, their parents, and…