Growth into literacy occurs most effectively with the engagement of the learner. The question is therefore: what motivates learners to sustain them through the struggle to attain literacy? In this aspect of literacy education, "lifewriting" can be a most powerful medium. Basic to all of the lifewriting programs described in the text,…

A composition instructor inquired into the effect of computer conferencing in two composition courses taught entirely through computer-mediated instruction and infused with the pedagogy of feminist collaboration. The instructor encouraged the naming of self and the developing of relationship. The instructor prepared a composition curriculum,…

Negative attitudes toward collaborative writing are common, especially in the humanities, and some people view it as a form of plagiarism or cheating. Plagiarism, or the borrowing of ideas from other writers, can be both conscious and unconscious, and can stem from a variety of motives. Even single-authored works are products of many minds,…

Theories of creative writing have been for the most part bound up with theories of art. Both teachers and the general public, however, are dissatisfied with such institutionalized theories. Creative writers should first look to theories of writing rather than infer them from art. Recent composition theories, both cognitive theories and those of…

A 1991 survey questioned 61 teachers on the ways they were using collaborative learning to teach composition. Comparisons with a 1988 survey showed that the biggest increase was in the use of collaborative drafting strategies. Increases also occurred in focusing, prewriting, and editing, and there were slight decreases in revision and…

This document consists of the first three issues of a newsletter written by the members of the Making Thinking Visible Project. The first newsletter describes collaborative planning as it related to writing, discusses school projects using collaborative planning, presents a dialogue between two students using the process, and compares…

Although collaborative learning in the traditional classroom has faced criticism and resistance by students and teachers, most studies suggest that if it is implemented and facilitated properly, shared learning through collaboration can be an effective tool in how students learn. However, as more and more classes are being taught online, the…

Elementary school students are unfamiliar with the process of writing a report on an assigned topic. One strategy for rectifying this is to have students compose reports in groups. Group compositions are a collaborative effort to prepare a piece of writing whereby students in either large or small groups work through the writing process together…

Although benefits and problems in collaborative learning, as well as techniques for facilitating it, have been extensively discussed in recent publications on composition teaching, few detailed descriptions of actual classroom uses of collaborative learning have been published. In an innovative one-term writing course, taught at the Chinese…

To explain the nature of the response process in journal writing, a simplified version of the theory of speech genres proposed by Mikhail Bakhtin is applied to excerpts from a journal by a college junior. Bakhtin's model of communication is continually interactive and dialogic, as though all voices from the speaker/writer's past are poised at the…

Describes one technical writing teacher's use of group writing projects in which students write and present a marketing report of a product they have invented. Points out that such projects teach students valuable skills in group dynamics, as well as technical writing skills. (ARH)

Describes two models for using the Electronic Networks for Interaction (ENFI) systems in writing instruction. Identifies the aims as (1) advancing traditional interests of the English department; (2) encouraging collaborative writing; and (3) increasing student freedom. Provides examples of student writings resulting from the traditional teacher…

Asks whether concerns over helping students enter the academic discourse community are not at odds with the pedagogical aims of the interpretive community of the classroom. Suggests that teachers engage students in a dialogue that respects the complexity and value of both student and academic discourse. (RS)

Describes a collaborative-writing assessment system that rewards each student both for the group's performance and for individual participation. Presents a survey of student attitudes toward an assignment incorporating the assessment system, and reveals that students perceived the assessment as fair and effective. (MM)

Describes how first grade and fifth grade students teamed together to coauthor books. Provides an example of a story planning chart. (MM)