Writing students at two-year colleges need more time and training to become better writers and computer users. Changes in writing instruction should expand students' knowledge of the writing process and increase their computer literacy; doing so should also increase their employability. The commitment of Oklahoma State University--Okmulgee to…

Based on the 1998 Arkansas State Language Arts Framework, this sample curriculum model for kindergarten language arts is divided into sections focusing on writing; listening, speaking, and viewing; and reading. Each section lists standards; benchmarks; assessments; and strategies/activities. The reading section itself is divided into print…

Presents results from a study of eight college freshman to determine differences between revising essays on-screen and on-paper. Eighty-one percent of on-screen changes were above the mechanical or word level, often related to meaning and content. Students working on-screen tended to add more information and recreate paragraphs, but sometimes…

Discusses outcomes of a study that suggest ESL instructors focus on grammar and syntax in student writing, whereas English faculty members focus more on content and style. Because they are less familiar with different rhetorical styles, English faculty evaluate ESL compositions lower when they do not correspond to a more western form. (29…

Described a program to infuse art into a writer's workshop in an effort to improve writing and self expression across grade levels. Notes how the students' artwork elicited more descriptive writing, improved students' observation skills, provided a necessary image for writers to write with clarity and purpose, and improved learning. (SD)

The effects of dictation and explicit instruction in planning on the composing skills of 42 fifth, sixth, and seventh graders with learning disabilities were studied. The combination of dictation and instruction in advanced planning resulted in more complete and qualitatively better essays than those written by comparison students. (SLD)

Thirteen hearing-impaired teenagers were paired with hearing undergraduate students from a deaf education program. Over 12 weeks, the pairs conversed using telecommunications devices for the deaf, and strategies were used to give the hearing-impaired students practice in language structures. A pretest-posttest procedure revealed improvements in…

A teacher describes strategies for improving writing skills of rural at-risk high school students including writing stories for kindergarten students; developing portfolios that include descriptive, expository, and persuasive pieces; and participating in a career development unit that incorporates writing assignments. Students also learn to find…

Four fifth grade students with learning disabilities were taught a strategy to facilitate setting product and process goals, generating and organizing notes, continued planning during writing, and evaluating goal attainment. Strategy instruction had a positive effect on students' essay writing and knowledge of the writing process, and effects were…

Describes a college-level intensive writing course in economics designed to improve writing skills and enhance learning. Reports highly favorable attitudes from the students and the instructor. Asserts that the intensive writing course could more clearly meet the needs of economics majors. (CFR)

Israel's AMAL Aleph High School combines advanced technology with regular high school academic studies. This article describes how one English-as-a-Second-Language teacher joined a project to develop an online English student magazine for the Center for Educational Technology Internet site, then used to the project to improve students' English…

Argues that lack of attention to the student's perspective (how they react to, and what sense they make of, their teachers' comments) limits the conclusions that can be drawn from research on teacher response. Reviews three articles in the same issue of this journal that deal with teacher response to student writing in light of this limitation.…

Responds to three articles in this same issue on response to student writing. Analyses the consensus view of responding to student writing in order to highlight missing or misconceived elements of current theory. Offers a speculative outline for a more comprehensive study of response. Offers two variations on the theme of response, depicting it as…

This study aimed to investigate the importance of self-efficacy and attitudes to wards writing in writing training. It was also necessary to establish whether these constructs could be more enhanced through a specific intervention as part of the motivational factors, than through training which coaches other writing components such as cognitive…

A study determined the effects of Whole Language Immersion, a pedagogy rooted in Whole Language and English as a Second Language on two sections of eleventh-grade students in Sumter County, Alabama, defined as at-risk by the Alabama Exit Examination. For 10 weeks, the control group was taught grammar while the experimental group underwent language…