The Attitude Toward Writing Inventory, is a simple, Likert-type instrument designed to assess students' positive, neutral, or negative attitudes toward writing. This instrument helps to identify the negative attitudes which must be changed before an instructional method can be effective. (CB)

Presents a self-report questionnaire designed as a means of measuring writing apprehension in technical writing students. Explains how to administer, score, and evaluate the results of the questionnaire. (FL)

Explored how much people remember from their conversations. Found that even after only five minutes subjects were able to recollect only about 10 percent of what was said. Also found that recall was affected by the mode of recall (written vs. oral) and the presence and type of memory goals. (PD)

Recounts how an eighth-grade teacher used reflective portfolios with her students to help them overcome their reluctance to write and to get them to see writing as a way to learn about themselves as students and as individuals. States that the teacher wanted students to be enthusiastic about writing as a part of everyday life. (PA)

Shares a conversation between a second-grade student and teacher during a prewriting conference. Emphasizes that, in order to become writers, students need to do their own writing. (MG)

Describes a combined process writing approach and extended conference method of writing instruction applied to eighth grade students. Presents the experiences of several students who refused to write at first but soon became proud of their writing after several extended conferences. (RS)

Identifies three basic types of students of technical writing who fear writing with a computer. Offers suggestions to encourage them (and all technical writing students) to at least become more comfortable and current with writing technology. (SR)

Discusses five things which help the author (herself a reluctant writer) to push past her own doubts, and notes how they are helpful in working with students who are reluctant to write. (SR)

Presents a nontraditional, naturalistic study of writing apprehension in the form of a dialogue between the subject of the case study and her teacher. Describes how the subject overcame a writing block (involving an undergraduate honors thesis) by writing about the block. Presents a sense of an individual writer and the social construction of her…

Examines the impact on a deaf student (who was "intensely anxious" about writing) of five two-hour tutoring sessions conducted exclusively in English, in writing, and on a computer. Finds that his fluency expanded significantly, as did his conversation about writing. Notes that he became more deeply involved in critical awareness of text,…

Finds significant differences in level of writing apprehension among students in Freshman Composition based on grades in Freshman Composition but not based on a student's age or gender. Finds significantly greater writing apprehension among accounting majors than among non-accounting majors. (SR)

Argues that nontraditional students need special assistance in coming to believe that they have something valuable to say and in learning to express it with authority. Discusses the complicated nature and causes of the silences of nontraditional students, and describes numerous things that can be done to lessen fear and resistance in the writing…

Describes implementation of a writing process and feedback (WPF) model, which presented getting published as an appropriate expectation of all graduate students. The model included structured sequential classroom assignments, student editorial review boards, guest classroom appearances by published writers, and extensive feedback from faculty and…

Combining the practical lessons of clinical practice and the literature of the disciplines of composition theory and psychology, this book merges what writers say about writing with what researchers and scholars say in a way that helps both experienced and inexperienced writers at the writing desk. The writers depicted in the book are comprised of…

A study investigated students' attitudes about writing, in order to gain new insights into writing apprehension. The Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test and 2 open-ended questions were administered to 202 students from public and private colleges and universities in California. Results indicated that highly apprehensive students generally want…