Noting that improvement in rater reliability means eliminating differences among raters, this paper discusses ways to assess writing evaluator reliability and methods for achieving higher levels of interrater reliability. After showing that reliability can be improved two ways--by increasing the number of raters or measurements made, and by…

Recognizing the utility and limitations of traditional curriculum and of present language programming for its mostly Navajo population, the Ganado Public School District developed the GLAD (Ganado Language Arts Development) project, which aims to: develop literacy in kindergarten through third grade students; expand and enrich the pedagogical…

The manual is intended to help writers or adapters of instructional materials for deaf students. The first section examines difficulties in providing suitable reading material for deaf students. The problems in evaluating deaf students' reading levels are examined. Writers are cautioned to pay particular attention to syntax, vocabulary, and…

A formula for assessing style is described and applied to compositions written by adult students of English as a second language. Style is defined as the total effect of what is done by a writer in the composing process, including choice of words, organization, and sentence and paragraph strategies. Earlier attempts to quantify style are reviewed.…

This paper attempts to provide an updated overview of the current theory and practice of English as a second language (ESL) composition. The following topics are addressed: (1) the goals of composition courses in the ESL curricula; (2) course content, derived in part from goals in the curricula; (3) a review of techniques and procedures for…

An English as second language (ESL) student at the college level must learn to write adequate compositions. However, most ESL composition texts focus on grammar and sentence structure. A method is proposed for teaching composition to advanced ESL students which reorders the accepted sequencing of materials. Rather than proceeding from sentence to…

Teachers can create talented writers in their classrooms by designing a course in which students are given the tools and the techniques they need to develop their talents. Writers need (1) an overview of the writing processes, which includes choices about language purposes, register (such as formal, informal, or casual), patterns of organization,…

To force students--at the very beginning of the writing process--to be aware of audience and to gain insight into their own writing, in-class writing and sharing exercises can be invaluable. For example, students can present to the class their subject for an upcoming paper, with the class responding on paper to such questions as: (1) What do you…

Some research on the stimulant effect of caffeine suggests that the amount of behavioral enhancement produced by caffeine may depend on subjects' prior experience with the task and the drug. A study was undertaken to test whether prior experience with a task while under the influence of caffeine would facilitate performance of that task. Male…

Differences between letters of four adolescent mildly mentally handicapped (MMH) students written by hand and those composed on a microcomputer using a word processor were examined in terms of amount of time a subject spent completing a letter, the length of a completed letter, the number of words written per unit of time needed to complete a…

Nationwide attention should increasingly be focused on the failure of schools to ensure that all their students adequately learn the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Indepth legal and social science research with respect to remedies for this situation should be undertaken as a priority. (Author/DN)

Seven short reports of successful practices in freshman composition courses at various universities and colleges. (TO)

Although college teachers of English face a very real economic crisis, the current intellectual crisis is even more significant. The first failure of this intellectual crisis involves what we have done: we have replaced true scholarship with the new interpretation of texts, mistakenly believing that we need not know any outside knowledge of a…

A freshman composition course taught to a group of science majors at Case Institute of Technology was based on the premise that learning to write involves a stylistic response to style. This book presents, through the eyes of the course's teacher, a novelistic account of teaching and learning. Thirty assignments that were given to the students are…

On the premise that the aim of high school and college English teachers is to intensify students' powers of thinking and feeling and to keep themselves alive while doing so, this paper suggests numerous imaginative activities for use in the classroom. The activities include a Victorian panel discussion, a presentation of early English ballads,…