Three types of journal writing used by a teacher in her community college English classrooms are (1) the reading journal, in which students respond to course materials that they have been assigned; (2) the "sensorium," a writing unit devoted to detailed, specific descriptions of what the student sees, hears, touches, tastes, and smells;…

In addition to enabling students to discover ideas and providing them with raw materials that they can shape into polished drafts, free writing can give students experience, thus making them more comfortable with writing. Beginning each class with free writing activities on topics of enough interest that they distract reluctant writers from…

Describes a high school composition teacher's research comparing researchers' observations on students' composing attitudes and habits against those of her own students. Emphasizes the importance of classroom teachers' involvement in research. (ARH)

Examines recent research that uses protocol analysis to determine the cognitive processes used by writers in planning their work. (FL)

Describes the steps a writer can go through in producing an article and how a word processor can facilitate the thought and compositional processes. (CRH)

Suggests that learning to write should be mastered before a research paper is ever assigned. Presents exercises developing student skill in using source materials to express their own ideas. (MM)

A study shows that advanced ESL students explore and clarify ideas and attend to language-related concerns primarily after their ideas have been delineated. These results call into question the prescriptive approach to writing instruction that is overly concerned with correctness. (MSE)

Writing represents the writer's dialog, first, with himself, and later, with the reader. Both processes take part in the communication and influence its shape and content. The successful writer persuades by making present those things which are not in the immediate environment and by balancing the conflicting demands of stability and flexibility.…

Explains four visual composition preparations providing both concrete experiences to stimulate student writing and a nonverbal means of teaching the internal structure of discourse. (MM)

This article offers strategies for implementing a process approach to teaching written composition, emphasizing prewriting, writing, and rewriting. Discussion of three functions of writing, including expressive writing, transactional writing, and poetic writing, is included. Writing process principles are linked to gifted education principles to…

This article presents a three-stage writing process designed to enhance the writing skills of gifted students, increase their engagement in the subject matter, and provide a greater degree of understanding of the content area. The stages are referred to as prewriting, writing, and rewriting. (JDD)

Describes as a prewriting strategy the use of seventh-grade language-arts student and teacher story telling about "guilt trips" played by parents and teens. Maintains that this is a useful prewriting strategy often neglected as teachers move to a process-oriented instructional model. Describes pitfalls to the verbal prewriting strategy. (KB)

Readers as well as writers compose meaning. Using the same characteristics essential to effective writing--planning, drafting, aligning, revising, and monitoring--readers react creatively with the text. In response to the author's intention and their own knowledge base, they decide what they want to get from their reading. Constantly renegotiating…

An introduction to using word processing in writing instruction, this report first describes the basic terms and tools used in word processing and then lists the four characteristics of a good word processing program. They are the options to: (1) edit and insert; (2) cut and paste; (3) find and correct; and (4) store and save documents of between…

Prewriting, writing, and revision represent vital elements in both the total writing experience and the evaluation of writing programs. An effective writing program should include (1) a written plan to guide composition instructors and ensure that students receive balanced instruction; (2) clearly stated purposes reflecting concern for composition…