Describes a four week collaborative writing unit designed to develop students' sense of audience by producing a magazine to orient fifth grade students to junior high school. Discusses how students developed the idea, conducted interviews, wrote articles, used computers to produce the magazine, and distributed copies of their magazine. (RS)

Describes a set of writing assignments in a high school English class in which students research controversial, complex issues and then write letters to government officials or persuasive essays for other students, thus learning about persuasive writing, and civic action, and becoming more exacting in their language and more precise in their…

Examines whether preschool children take the gender of the addressee into account when disputing during peer exchanges. Finds that both boys and girls modified their language use in mixed-sex groups, with boys using fewer commands when more girls were present, and girls using more contradictions in mixed-sex than same-sex groups. (SR)

Gives seven responses from practicing English teachers concerning ways that they have implemented the writing of various kinds of letters by students into the English curriculum. Demonstrates the efficacy and success of such methods. (HB)

Hyperfluency, defined as discourse that is inappropriate and incompetent in the target audience's estimation, and its relationship to composition pedagogy are discussed. It is argued that hyperfluency can signal the growth of an individual's linguistic resources. (16 references) (Author/LB)

Describes the complex and sometimes conflicting components involved in reading assessment issues and proposes a solution that involves linkages among assessment audiences and approaches. Concludes with remarks about how school districts might pull together all the pieces and solve the assessment puzzle for themselves. (PRA)

Describes an assignment in writing documentation that turns the classroom into a laboratory for usability testing, giving students a clear sense of the reader responding to their text. (SR)

Presents a transcript of an interview with successful young adult author Jerry Spinelli. Describes the techniques and writing strategies used by Spinelli. Discusses ways of generating stories, and the author's concept of his audience. (HB)

Comments on the interview of bell hooks in the preceding issue of the "Journal of Advanced Composition." Comments on hooks's concepts of audience and power, race relations, multicultural education, and the politics of literacy. (HB)

Suggests guidelines for observing young children's developing control over their thinking and text-making knowledge. Presents evidence of distinct, observable differences between at-risk and non-at-risk preschoolers' knowledge of what a literary piece should be and how to monitor the product to make sure it meets an audience's needs. Discusses…

Evaluates the reader-protocol method of teaching writers to anticipate readers' comprehension needs. Involves asking writers to predict readers' problems with a text and providing them with reader responses. Finds that writers taught with the reader-protocol method improved more than writers in control classes, and increased in their ability to…

A number of colleges and universities with widely varying sizes and missions have used direct mail techniques to improve fund raising. Methods include use of fund-raising themes, checklists of reasons for donating, gift clubs, and challenge grants. Attention to direct communication, image, and repetition of the message are success factors. (MSE)

Describes a writing assignment in which students from two different first-year composition classes evaluated and graded each other's papers. Discusses how this established a genuine audience, empowered students, and generated enthusiasm. (SR)

Provides analysis of the various kinds of audiences for whom technical materials are written. Describes the functions of the "watchdog" audience, who oversees the written transaction between the author and primary audience. Provides data from an ethnographic case study of engineering authors in a technical setting. (HB)

Analyzed think-aloud protocols of elementary teachers as they composed language arts report cards. Found that teachers wrote report cards for specific purposes (to motivate, inform, change behavior, etc.) and audiences (students, parents, teachers, administrators), and that these considerations influenced the information included on the report…