Argues that teachers can find solutions to problems and answers to questions by conducting their own classroom inquiries and explorations. Discusses four types of classroom research in which teachers can engage: "test-teach-retest,""survey,""observation," and "looking into the past." (EL)

High school teacher J. Arias employs a research method from anthropology to motivate students to research and write. Learning to use the methods and perspectives of ethnography, students become critical viewers and thinkers, able to connect the themes of literary works to their lives and to critique the variety of texts that surround them. Arias…

Points out that teaching writing with a process style and conducting in-class research may be inherently incompatible activities. (JL)

Suggests guidelines for conducting research concerned with testing English instructional strategies and materials. (RL)

Advocates creating a content centered writing course with research assignments that demand critical interpretation as well as appreciation of the processes writers undergo to create clear, informed, and developed prose. (CRH)

The evidence for the efficacy of sentence-combining exercises is not as persuasive as it has been represented. (JH)

Discusses the benefits of a source of guidance for teachers: language arts research. Explores an authentic classroom experience using a socio-psycholinguistic theoretical orientation and an ethnographic approach to research. (EL)

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…