Explores the relationship between writing ability, cognitive development, and orality among students of minority cultures, particularly the African American culture. Suggests that students from cultures with strong oral traditions do not lag behind other students but must nevertheless succeed in making the transition to written standard discourse.…

Describes how simple curriculum-based assessments can be used to evaluate the writing process, the product factors (fluency, content, conventions, syntax and vocabulary), and the writing purpose of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. A process checklist is included that can be used to assess strategies students do or do not use when writing.…

Examines the characteristics of prewriting activities of unsuccessful writers who took the Alberta Universities' Writing Competence Test. Finds that the students' limited and ineffective use of prewriting strategies interferes with their ability to generate and develop ideas in writing a timed essay. (KEH)

Compares the written production of 12 sixth grade English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students on 3 teacher-assigned tasks with their writing to the teacher in dialogue journals. Finds that the quantity and maturity of the dialogue journal writing was at least equivalent to the assigned writing on all measures. (RS)

Examined the relationship between global writing quality and lower level analytic measures of writing, with a focus on cohesive indices, among 50 English-speaking Canadian fourth-graders. Results showed that both cohesive indices and lower level writing measures each accounted for a significant amount of the variance in holistic scores. (Contains…

Researchers agree that academic self-efficacy beliefs are strongly predictive of academic performance. This study investigates four students' perceptions of the evolution of their efficacy beliefs about writing and of the relationship between these beliefs and their writing competence. (JPS)

The creative development of Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily Jane, and Anne Bronte in England during the early 1800s is analyzed, with attention to the role of the parents, collaborative siblings, and the natural environment in supporting their talent. The education of the Brontes and the "little books" they wrote as…

Describes the development and use of the Middle Infant Screening Test. Isolates factors which directly relate to children's progress in early reading and writing development. (RS)

A survey of 168 preschool children's parents found that less than half of the children with single or multiple disabilities were read to daily or engaged in writing or drawing activities weekly. Relative priorities given to learning to read and write and expectations for reading and writing abilities were lower for children with multiple…

Ten Spanish adolescents with profound, prelingual hearing impairments received instruction in organizing their written stories. Instruction emphasized the importance of the narrative structure and the writing process and offered different activities about the narrative text. Some of the students improved the quality of their writing and their…

Interviews with 39 students with learning disabilities (LD, grades 4-8) and 29 normally achieving students revealed that, compared to controls, LD students had less mature conceptualizations of writing and less favorable attitudes toward writing but no differences in evaluations of their competence in either writing or the composing process.…

Identifies quantitative research regarding whole language. Includes studies on preschool literacy, literature and basal reading, at-risk first grade children, whole language and traditional approaches to beginning reading, students' writing ability, whole language and older students, and implementation. Concludes that whole language may be more…

Examines the effects of mental imagery instruction on 37 gifted fourth and fifth grade students' creative writing and development of imagery vividness. Finds that treatment subjects significantly outperformed control subjects on originality and use of sensory descriptions but not on writing length. (MG)

Research evidence is reviewed to show that transcription and working memory processes constrain the development of composition skills in students with and without learning disabilities and that in turn other processes constrain the development of transcription and working memory skills. Interventions for transcription are discussed. (Author/CR)

Compares Singapore students' composing behaviors and abilities in (1) hand-written and (2) computer essays using a spelling checker. Results indicate that the spelling checker benefits those students whose initial writing ability is poor and whose writing is blocked by an emphasis on the mechanical aspects of writing. (Author/AEF)