This paper explores the concept of intuition and applies its observations to the teaching of writing. As background, the distinction between instinct and intuition and a few common misunderstandings about intuition are discussed. The major portion of the paper identifies four intuitive senses: (1) The sense of the normative, which refers primarily…

Argues that studying English can equip students to grapple with the abstractions, concepts, and vague or ambiguous utterances they encounter in other endeavors. (RB)

Concern over the inadequate writing skills of college freshmen can be traced back at least a hundred years. (JH)

Argues that compositions teachers need to develop an epistemology--as pragmatic as is possible--which asks how the composing process is an act of knowing. (R B)

Argues that the movie review is a useful pedagogical device in the freshman English class because it offers familiar and interesting subject matterin a brief and entertaining form. (R B)

Discusses the advantages of using talking about writing as a method for improving writing skills.

This textbook aims to enable pupils to master writing good English rather than teach theory of style and criticism. It is divided into four parts. Part I introduces the scholar to the construction and combination of sentences and provides a variety of practical exercises. Part II covers the structure and phraseology of sentences. Part III is an…

The fact that technical writing is a form of discourse and not just a craft to be learned for a specific purpose means that it has at least three implications for the structure of writing programs. First, it is a method of writing development that is "you-centered" rather than "I-centered." Second, it is a heuristic for perceiving and organizing…

A five-week summer conference was arranged for high school English teachers in South Carolina to learn more about what happens as students learn to write, what teaching strategies would enhance their development, and how better writing courses might be designed and implemented. Participants, who wrote almost daily, were asked to examine their own…

To assist future directors and tutors of a particular writing laboratory, this report outlines some of the procedures and activities that were involved in the first year of the laboratory's operation. The report outlines efforts to publicize the program with the administration and students, relates communication efforts between the laboratory and…

Perhaps because writing is a comparatively recent development in human history, it is more difficult to teach than any other aspect of communication. It is essential in teaching writing to enlist the interest and the pleasure of the pupil. Some ways to do this include: preceding the writing process with speaking and listening, providing for…

This paper describes how one teacher has taken the findings of the research done by Shaughnessy as reported in her book, "Errors and Expectations," and the findings of James Britton as reported in his book, "The Development of Writing Abilities (11-18)," and has developed a series of class activities based on their…

Combining literature and composition courses, this experimental program at Oklahoma State University attempted to develop composition skills utilizing literature as subject matter. Literary works, grading systems, and types of composition assignments differed between two randomly-chosen experimental classes, but teachers in both classes employed…

To examine the effectiveness of Lehigh County Community College's developmental English program, an experiment was undertaken which investigaged the differences in English composition, mechanics, and effectiveness achievement between two groups of randomly selected students scheduled to take a developmental English course. Of the 20 in each group,…