Observation of English-as-a-Second-Language students' small-group writing activities involving a word processor found that the word processor was a valuable tool in promoting writing abilities and providing excellent interactional activity. (four references) (Author/CB)

Describes Reading Recovery as a school-based prevention strategy to reduce the number of children with reading and writing difficulties. Reports on a study of 83 primary-level students in 12 New Zealand schools. Finds that students participating in Reading Recovery improved reading skills the most. (CFR)

A biographical sketch of award-winning brothers Christopher and James Lincoln Collier discusses their early writing influences and research pursuits. In 1974 they began coauthoring novels of historical fiction for middle school readers. The profile describes their collaborating technique and their plots, which incorporate history of the American…

Scientific and technical jargon--specialized vocabulary, usually Latinate--plays a vital role in scientific and technical communication. But its proper use continues to be a point of discussion because of our concern with audience adaptation, rhetorical exigence, rhetorical purpose, and ethics. We've focused on teaching students--and on convincing…

The five-paragraph theme, while widely used by writing instructors, has often been criticized for its tendency to focus on a rigid formula rather than a writer's ideas. This study investigates the decision of an early-career teacher, Leigh, to teach her eighth-grade students the five-paragraph model in the context of a state-mandated writing…

Non native speakers of English wishing to study at tertiary level in English speaking countries are increasingly required to prove their English language competence by taking an internationally recognised test such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS). This article…

Explanation as a genre may support children's reasoning and understanding particularly effectively. In this study, 20 fourth graders were given the task of explaining the effects of a pollutant on an ecosystem to third graders. Before writing, they completed a commercially developed science unit, instruction in reading and writing an explanation,…

This book offers teachers a handbook for teaching literacy to diverse students in grades 3-8. The balanced literacy method combines the best practices of phonics and other skill-based language instruction with the holistic, literature-based approach in order to help teach reading, writing, and speaking in a clear and approachable format. This…

Stretch 107 is a version of English 107 (a first-year composition course for international students at Arizona State University), designed to provide those with low proficiency in English with various strategies for writing acceptable prose in English. Since it is a 2-semester course, Stretch 107 gives students more time to work on their…

This guide to academic publishing is intended to provide practical help to professionals working not only at the university level but also to teachers in schools and to researchers. It is concerned with writing for publication, and offers advice on content, style, choice of publication, submissions, refereeing, citations, editorial decisions, and…

Describing how the experiences of nine cognitive researchers have influenced college writing classrooms, this book demonstrates the critical role of the learner in interpreting and responding to the texts they read, the tasks they are assigned, and the feedback they receive from instructors, readers, and collaborators. Growing out of a project at…

Noting that more and more teachers are persuaded by the wisdom of teaching reading and writing together and keeping an emphasis on understanding children's early literacy learning, this third edition refines the presentation of two earlier editions to make it more useful for teachers who are setting up and teaching emergent literacy programs. The…

An ethnographic study examined ways in which the writing behaviors of adult literacy students in a classroom setting were either similar to or different from current theories of language acquisition. Three students were selected from an adult literacy class at the Fordham Library Center in the Bronx. The research plan had a three-pronged approach:…

"Lifewriting" provides a different model for the school composition class, a model that changes the traditional images of the student and teacher at work. Lifewriting--the composing of personal stories, anecdotes, and memoirs--has a beneficial effect in that while it begins with personal expression, the dynamics of the lifewriting group…

This paper describes a program implemented to improve student writing skills. Research data included teachers' observations and evaluations, student surveys, and student writing samples. Subjects were students in grades 1, 3, and 4 in 5 Illinois schools showing a need for writing improvement. Objectives were to increase writing abilities with…