In order to improve their students' skills in self-expression, teachers should emphasize the importance of tone, an awareness of what is being said, and an appreciation of the effect of words on an audience. They need to foster in their students an interest in and a perspective on language, its history, and the human and social attitudes which language reflects. Stress should be placed on the fundamentals of spelling, on the reasons behind punctuation rules, on writing clarity and conciseness, and on the usefulness of parallelism and subordination for accurate, fluent self-expression. These techniques of composition, however, will be of little value unless the student-writer has something worthwhile to say and has coherently ordered his ideas. (MF)