In his epic poem "A Season in Hell," the surly French poet Arthur Rimbaud proposes that the Devil likes writing that lacks "descriptive" qualities. Rimbaud then makes a stand in favor of descriptive writing by offering "these hideous pages from [his] notes of the damned." The author would not go so far as to say that nondescriptive writing is evil…

Early childhood (EC) educators are expected to cater for all types of families from diverse backgrounds. Research involving EC educators and the spaces they create indicate the dominance of heteronormative practices. This silences programmes, policies, experiences and interactions that could reflect and support children with parents who identify…

The present study investigates if there is a positive effect of the use of concept mapping software on students with Attention Deficit (AD) when learning descriptive writing in the secondary level of education. It also examines what kind of difficulties AD students may have come across during this learning procedure. Sample students were selected…

This article illustrates using carbon emissions data in an introductory statistics assignment. The carbon emissions data has desirable characteristics including: choice of measure; skewness; and outliers. These complexities allow research and public policy debate to be introduced. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

The essential function of critical thinking in education is obvious by many studies done in this field. The main purpose of this article is to find the relationship between critical thinking levels of Iranian EFL learners and their performance on different modes of writing. The sample of the study selected among those who studying English at the…

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of progressive sentence development activities on 5th graders' description skills. The study was conducted based on the pretest-posttest quasi-experimental model with a control group. A total of 58 students participated in the study; 29 in the control group, and 29 in the experimental group. The…

Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI) has led to improved writing and language outcomes among deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) middle grades students. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of SIWI on the written expression of DHH elementary students across recount/personal narrative, information report, and persuasive…

Scholars and teachers within the field of composition have long heralded the merits of reflective writing. Whether written intermittently throughout a course or near the end (typically in the genre of portfolio cover letter), reflective writing assignments are thought to promote cognitive development by helping students become more aware of their…

The current study was aimed at investigating the relationship between academic Iranian EFL learners' extroversion/introversion and their writing performance. The participants of the study were some 52 BA learners majoring in English language literature in Urmia and Tabriz state universities. The chosen sample comprised of both males and females…

As an amateur photographer, the author seeks surprises amid the mundane. For example, instead of simply photographing a spider's web, she waits until just after it rains and to find the spider's web filled with glistening droplets of water that serve as tiny prisms of light. The mundane suddenly is transformed into something truly amazing. Moments…

This report is a descriptive analysis of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), intended to determine which content is eligible for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium's end-of-year summative assessment for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades 3-8 and high school. The high school standards analyzed were those in grades…

Discourse analysts are concerned with how language both reflects and constructs the social world. As a field of study, there are scores of books, journals, and conferences devoted to the theoretical and methodological issues among the varieties of discourse analysis. Less discussed in the field of discourse studies is how one learns to become a…

In this article, the author describes an art project in which students create their own outdoor environments using a tri-wall frame--a triple-layered cardboard, which is very lightweight and strong. Then the students compose a few sentences describing the scene or place.

The present study looked at how children establish a relationship between the conceptual and linguistic dimensions of linearization in descriptive text composition. Written productions were compared with oral ones. French-speaking participants, drawn from the fifth, seventh, and ninth grades, produced both a written and an oral description of a…

Speaking plainly, says the writer: too many architecture students can't write. After hearing graduate architecture students defend their designs at a midterm studio review, the writer observed that, under questioning, several students became inarticulate and left participles or sentences dangling. While this may be understandable, the writer also…