Noting that parent involvement could be the single most important factor in children's success in school, this book helps parents act as tutors in reading and writing for their kindergarten children. It offers both general guidelines and specific strategies and activities to use for accomplishing specific objectives, such as improving decoding…

A basic writing course instructor attempted to facilitate her students' survival in the academy by demystifying writing conventions while teaching them how to analyze discourses about literacy, especially in relation to cultural and economic forces. Students were asked to design an ideal basic writing course as a final journal assignment.…

This action research project described a program for increasing student skills in writing. The targeted population consisted of fifth grade academically talented, regular education, and inclusion students in a middle class, western suburb of a Midwestern city. The inadequacy of student writing skills was documented through writing samples, local…

This pamphlet is designed to help parents help their children make the short but important step from language play to loving writing. The pamphlet discusses ways to: encourage children's curiosity and imaginative play; make reading an important part of family life; and respect children's interests in writing and reading. It also suggests…

A study examined how a group of non-traditional students approached the issue of multiple identities, i.e., those identities of gender, race, culture, ethnicity, region, nation, class, sexual orientation and so on that made up each individual self. In-depth interviews with eight returning adult women attending a Catholic women's college in the…

A study investigated current research on approaches to instruction, modes of instruction, and foci of instruction in the teaching of writing. Surveys of students and faculty at Northeast Iowa Community College were conducted to determine the status of composition instruction with regard to approaches to and modes and foci of instruction.…

A study examined the ways in which members of low-income Southern African-American families deal with writing in their everyday lives. Three families headed by single parents participated in the study. The researcher resided with each family for 2 months, following the adults to their workplaces, sharing chores and leisure activities, and…

A study explored how students' writing apprehension and self-efficacy beliefs affect their use of teacher comments on first drafts of stories. The driving force behind the study stemmed from an interest in how to provide more effective, relevant feedback to students. The study examined student use of global and local feedback--global feedback is…

Presented as a conversation rather than as a single-voiced academic paper, this paper describes the three people's experiences with experimental academic writing as students and as teachers. It describes such writing (or autobiographical scholarship) as a hybrid blend of autobiographical bits and scholarship, writing and reading, public and…

This article describes efforts by Plymouth State College (PSC), New Hampshire, to improve the writing deficiencies of otherwise qualified candidates for teacher education programs. The study examined students' perceptions of writing at PSC, which uses an integrated model to improve writing. Writing is assessed during first-year orientation.…

Students entering first grade are not prepared to read. They lack the readiness skills that provide the foundation for success. Learning to read and write is a struggle, particularly for those students who have not had a variety of experience with reading and writing prior to entering school. In an effort to increase the readiness skills of…

This study investigated the impact of word processing on middle school students. The study involved a high, middle, and low academic ability student, each spending an average of 114 minutes on the computer per week over four months. Data collection consisted of questionnaires, interviews, observations, and students' work. Each student answered…

This report describes a program for improving student abilities and attitudes toward writing through increased writing time and opportunities. The targeted population consists of second, third, fourth, and fifth grade students at the elementary level in a growing middle class community located in the northwest suburban area of Chicago, Illinois.…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of males and females in regard to the researched paper. To answer this question, a primary survey was used to gather data as the primary method. A survey was distributed to secondary school students in northeast Indiana as well as undergraduate level writing classes…

A study examined the developmental epistemologies of first-year university students at a comprehensive university, based on the idea that students often come to the university in intellectual transition which may affect their epistemological stances toward writing. The students' comments as reported from a survey fall into seven categories: topic,…