Draws an interesting and instructive parallel between the work of film director Alfred Hitchcock, a master craftsman and technician, and the process of academic research. Briefly identifies shared qualities of specific concepts clearly communicated: all of the parts serve the whole, and respect for the audience. (MJP)

Reading and writing development of 54 children from grade one through four was studied. Poor first-grade readers almost invariably were poor readers at completion of grade four. Poor readers tended to become poor writers. Early writing skill did not predict later ability as well as did early reading ability. (SLD)

Devises and validates an index of texture to be used to accurately analyze texts of developing writers as an aid in improving readability. An index reflecting conjunction, conjunctive reach, specificity, connectivity, topic, and topic shift was created. Results were a perfect correlation in rankings produced by the index and judges. (32…

Monroe County Community College (MCCC), in Monroe, Michigan, developed a "Writing Across the Curriculum" program in response to perceived deficiencies in the writing and critical thinking skills of its students. Major features of the program include a Writing Center located in the Learning Assistance Laboratory and Writing Fellows…

This booklet contains nine 1-hour training sessions related to the components of family literacy programs. Each session may stand alone or be used in combination with any other. This provides trainers with the flexibility to base workshops on participants' needs and interests. Titles for the sessions include: (1) the process of literacy learning;…

Composed of teachers, researchers, and teacher educators, the Written Literacy Forum suggests a model for bringing research and practice together. During its first two years of operation, the forum (1) investigated the means of rendering research findings in a form meaningful to practitioners; (2) created three formats for sharing research…

A pilot program at the University of Michigan integrated the teaching of developmental writing and the teaching of introductory psychology based upon the two-fold principles of writing-across-the-curriculum: learning to write and writing to learn. The program consisted of four components: (1) a series of brief autonomous composition assignments…

To support arguments for an integrative approach to the study of writing, this report summarizes past and current trends in writing research and the resulting implications. The introduction discusses pre-1970s, 1970s, and 1980s research trends, noting that current research focuses on the context in which writing takes place and points out the…

A sample of 15 eighth-grade Hispanic students in a bilingual classroom were used for a descriptive analysis of students' writing samples to compare their growth between pre- and post- writing samples in Spanish and English. This was accomplished by juxtaposing English and Spanish pre- and post-tests using the same holistic rubric developed by the…

Although there are many retrospective accounts from teachers and professional writers concerning the effect of computers on their writing, there are few real-time accounts of students struggling to simultaneously develop as writers and cope with computers. To fill this void in "testimonial data," a study examining talking-aloud protocols from a…

Dialogue journal writing is a communicative language technique that can be used effectively in the English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classroom. In this approach, the teacher responds in writing to each journal entry by the student. It is a low-cost writing-fluency activity that is relatively easy to initiate and can provide an important bridge to…

Describes two studies conducted to evaluate a comprehensive cooperative learning approach to elementary reading and writing instruction: Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC). Found significant effects in favor of the CIRC students on standardized measures of reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, language expression, oral…

Discusses (1) activities that encourage students to use formal vocabulary; (2) the use of computers to motivate remedial readers to write; and (3) a pilot study in which sustained silent reading and writing was used to improve the literacy of seventh and eighth grade remedial students.

Considers: (1) research by George Hillocks using meta-analysis to examine four modes of composition instruction; (2) role playing in classroom to improve student writing of persuasive letters or opinion essays; (3) process approach to English instruction, which allows for complex nature of individual learning styles; and (4) resource for promising…

Presents a learning activity to help students see themselves as part of the historical process. Describes the nine-week project in which students solicit written or oral remembrances of family, local, and national history. Maintains that the project integrated history and writing in a meaningful way for students. (CFR)