A longitudinal study of advanced senior high students' writing abilities indicates that, over a three-year period, students exhibit significantly improved writing skills. Follow a continuous program of writing enhancement, graduating seniors exit the system with reasonable or better than reasonable skills in essay organization, sentence formation,…

This paper reports on a study in which the speech and the writing of college freshmen were compared. Spoken samples were gathered from classroom discussion; written samples were taken from pieces written on the discussion material in a later class session. Spoken and written samples from an "A" student, a "B+" student, a "B" student, and a "C"…

Produced in response to a school board's directive to develop a plan for implementing a standardized curriculum in the basic subjects on a district-wide basis, this instructional packet is intended for use by teachers of a course in functional basic English skills for eleventh grade students. The packet contains preparatory sheets, activity…

Produced in response to a school board's directive to develop a plan for implementing a standardized curriculum in the basic subjects on a district-wide basis, this instructional guide is intended for teachers of a course in language arts basic skills for middle school and junior high school students. The guide contains preparatory sheets,…

The traditional method of teaching writing to students in universities by correcting their errors supposes a generally well-developed sense of written language structure and formal English language discourse. The new population seeking higher education does not always possess such a background. An alternative instructional method is to use the…

Two sentence-combining tests and one piece of free writing per student provided the data in a study designed to determine whether the heavy writing emphasis given British children in their elementary years gives them significantly greater writing skill than their counterparts in the United States, who write comparatively infrequently. The data…

A distinction should be made between linguistics as a science and applied linguistics as a technology, the latter being of great potential for language classroom problem solving, the former to be saved for later, more mature study. The English teacher's main concern in language study is to impart to students the effective use of language (i.e.,…

This study was undertaken to investigate approaches fifth grade children of similar mental ability follow when writing narrative compositions, to identify procedures unique to good and poor writers, and to observe sex differences relative to quality of written expression and ability to verbalize concerning the writing process. A sample of 230…

Discusses insights and concerns growing out of a study in which middle school and high school language arts teachers examined the research in the teaching of grammar and examined the content, methods, and materials of their own grammar curriculum. Details process guidelines and content guidelines that were developed. (EL)

Studies from information-processing and language comprehension research have reported that background knowledge facilitates reading and writing. By comparing Chinese language development of heritage students who had home background in Chinese language and culture with those who did not, this study found that heritage learners did significantly…

Students from the ages of 13 or 14 onward need to know the "colours of words" which can let them live fully in the rainbow of life, thus eliminating student fears associated with written language and of being pawns of those who have the power of words, especially written words. Colour coding the eight basic types of work that words can…

Microresearch of the type performed by W. Loban and K. Hunt was used to describe two functions of macroresearch methodology--reporting and classifying--of the type conducted by J. Britton. This was done by contrasting the use of nine linguistic features of writing produced by four groups of students in each of the functions. The features were…

Basic writers often experience difficulties when trying to articulate ideas in writing that are more specific, systematic, and fully developed than their speech. The writers must learn how to put their thinking into the appropriate forms and expressions necessary to address an academic audience. Noting that the natural working of the human mind…

Designed for use with 38 full-color slides and a cassette tape presentation, this instructional package consists of an instructor's guide and a student activity packet. The instructor's guide includes general instructions for presenting the instructional unit as well as specific instructions for introducing, implementing, and evaluating student…

Developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, this booklet contains the competencies, item specifications, and sample items for the language arts competency tests for grades three, seven, and ten. Each competency statement contains a brief description, sample items, content, question form, and response form. The booklet also offers…