The authors describe how alphabet books teach so much more than just the ABCs. They provide excellent resources, allowing teachers to link and integrate the reciprocal processes of reading and writing. Encapsulated within the writing workshop framework, the authors use multigenre and multicultural alphabet books as anchor texts for a literacy…

Similar concerns about the development of children's creative writing abilities in Kenya and South Africa prompted two Mother Tongue (MT) education practitioners in Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy of Linguistics (MILL) to undertake parallel intervention studies to increase teachers' competence…

Academics are actively encouraged to disseminate new knowledge to the scientific community by publishing in scholarly journals. External and internal barriers to writing, however, prevent many authors from writing for publication. This article gives an account of an intervention to provide hands-on coaching to inexperienced academic authors.…

The purpose of this case study is to document the ways in which fifth-grade students in a historically, low-performing school learned to write from a teacher who did not emphasize test-taking processes. The study demonstrates how these instructional practices in a writing workshop context positively affected the student performance on a statewide…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain a greater understanding of English language learner (ELL) family involvement in school environments through the lens of family literacy. This study was informed by literature from two fields: early childhood writing and ELL family involvement. While some schools have focused on at-home reading…

The study investigated a coach's use of a theoretical framework called the Model of Mastery to assist three teachers in becoming self-regulated in the teaching of writing workshop by moving them through three settings: acquisition, consolidation, and consultation. The goal of the coach was to assist teachers in developing expertise in procedural,…

Research on the relationship between literacy and play has a rich history. Yet few studies have examined children's use of spontaneous play during literacy events as children are learning to read and write. This case study examines the use of play and the quality of playfulness in a kindergarten/first grade multiage classroom during Writer's…

During the fourth year of Amy Phillips' teaching assistantship in the spring semester of 2008, she was asked to teach a 300-level advanced writing course in which she was given the creative freedom to design the syllabus, choose the textbooks, craft all assignments, and organize the course content. However, there was one stipulation: the course,…

This essay discusses our failed attempts at the College of Charleston to sustain a Writing Studio course. Specifically, we explain how the failure of our Studio course revealed underlying problems in the department concerning the formation of writing program policy, the role of adjunct faculty, the oversight of our first-year writing curriculum,…

The United States involvement in the Middle East has been prominent in our recent national history, sometimes clouded by myths and misrepresentations of the people of that region of the world. This article details the experiences of teacher-researchers working with teachers and students in Amman, Jordan, to develop powerful English writing…

In the present study, Vygotsky's (1978, 1986) sociocultural framework of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding writing (Bodrova & Leong, 1995, 1996; Ross, 1976) are used as the theoretical basis to study the development of second language writing. A course project is presented in which advanced English language learners of Spanish…

Transforming Writing is a two-year action research project which aims to develop a model for the teaching and learning of writing that more fully incorporates a focus on embedded formative assessment. In the first year of the project, the 12 participating schools developed a model of writing underpinned by Talk for Writing, an approach developed…

Academics across the world face increasing pressure to publish. Research shows that writing retreats have helped by creating dedicated writing time and building collegiality. A new form of "structured" writing retreat was created to increase its impact by taking a community of practice approach. This paper reports on an evaluation, funded by the…

This is a qualitative study addressing the question: In what ways does a sixth grade middle school teacher show evidence of behaviors that fit the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework in the classroom? The researcher observed in this class, interviewed the teacher, and looked for evidence of the interplay between…

Changes in the higher education sector over the past decade have led to increasing demands on academics and resulted in increasing workloads, longer work hours and increased workplace stress. Declining government commitment to university funding has placed increasing pressure on academics to attract research funding and to publish. In addition, an…