The acquisition of knowledge is concomitant to the writing process and, as such, is a key factor in composition pedagogy. Writing is not just a skill with which the student presents or analyzes knowledge, rather, writing is essential to the very existence of certain kinds of knowledge. Much of writing instruction, however, consists mainly of genre…

This paper explores an alternative way of studying journalism in the classroom by focusing on contemporary journalists' ironic treatment of morality. The paper examines the performative character of the language of news, when the words investigative journalists use are of interest not so much for what they say but for what they do. The paper…

"Channel One" is a 12-minute daily TV news program designed specifically to be broadcast to high schools. A study examined critically the content of "Channel One" commercials to determine the values, themes, formats, and appeals used to pitch products to students, with special emphasis placed on the values used and promoted in…

Writing teachers should employ a pragmatic-eclectic approach to help freshman students become acquainted with as many writing models as possible. To privilege one model over the many others is to ignore the student's need for self- and world-discovery. The composition classroom has become the current center of critical reading and thinking skills,…

This book examines the ways that writing is taught in this age of technology. The book begins with writing about "tools" (technical writing), considers writing itself as a tool, and concludes with tools that aid writing. The aim is to study the interpenetration of writing and technology in order to determine how technology has affected…

This article discusses editorial "filters" in folktales, specifically the changes ("orientations") which editors deliberately impose on a tale because they want to reach a specific audience. A case in point is the tale called "Allerleirauh," in the Grimm collection, which not only is highly illustrative of editorial…

College radio is quite often viewed as the true alternative to commercial radio. However, what is alternative radio and how does college radio factor into the ideal? To further understand this concept, this paper focuses on the role of alternative programming in college radio. Areas discussed include alternative radio as a non-mainstream form of…

As veterans of several years' graduate training and teaching assistantships in Writing Programs, new degree holders entering the academic job market may assume they have an understanding, or at least an awareness, of audience and of discourse convention. But when it comes to their own job applications, they may be overlooking some of the very…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how publishing students' writing in the community affects their attitudes toward writing. Participants were 19 sixth-grade language arts students from an urban upper elementary school. Results from student attitude surveys indicate that using publishing is an effective method of connecting students to…

Developed by classroom teachers during the development phase of Minnesota's Graduation Standards, this performance package is made up of locally designed assignments that, taken together, show whether a student has learned and can apply the knowledge and skills related to writing a short story for a variety of academic and technical purposes,…

Currently, university composition programs are experimenting with the delivery of online writing courses, without the component of face-to-face interaction. To assess the efficacy of this delivery medium, a study compared two groups of undergraduate students in a course on argumentative writing taught by the same instructor: one group taking the…

Describes an exercise for a business writing class which provides teams of students with a simulated encounter involving extended conflict with an adversarial business person, extending over several weeks, and requiring extensive problem solving and a range of business writing. (SR)

Relates how the Jesuits made the performance of plays integral to the curriculum of their schools. Reveals Jesuit rationales: (1) theater permitted them to accomplish their mission of propagating the faith; (2) public performances served as excellent publicity for their schools; and (3) theater could educate students who participated as no other…

Examines how personal versus formal writing tasks affect students' response to and comprehension of literary text. Finds that personal writing tasks enabled students to produce qualitatively more effective responses that tended to be more fluent and constructed with a wider range of response statements. (RS)

Analyzes two scientific journal articles from a reader-response perspective. Elaborates the rhetorical nature of scientific discourse and demonstrates that even within the constraints of the journal articles, scientists have considerable freedom to exercise choices. Explicates how writers use cues to direct readers into fictional roles. (MG)