The first edition of this book in 1987 examined how teachers teach and how learners learn in the context of reading and writing workshops for middle school students. This revised edition still stresses the workshop approach to writing and English instruction, but it calls for a more activist approach by the teacher, encouraging more direction and…

Traditional approaches to teaching writing have been challenged, and new methods have emerged that reflect the new understanding of this process. This paper compares and contrasts product-based and process-based approaches to teaching writing. Product approaches reflect traditional, teacher-centered approaches to teaching in general, emphasizing…

The writings collected in these two journal issues are by adult literacy students at varying levels of writing and language skills. Most of the writings are in English, however, some are in Spanish, and some of the writings written in English are by non-native English-speakers. The writings take the form of poems, personal narratives, and…

Intended for teaching assistants and non-writing specialists to whom students come for help in preparing assigned writing papers, this guide suggests questions and comments to ask such students to help them clarify what is happening, or not happening, in their writing, and in the thinking which this writing reveals. The guide roughly parallels…

Reporting on the work of a task force formed for the purpose of improving writing skills in the Memphis (Tennessee) City Schools, grades K-12, this paper identifies the efforts of the task force and its recommendations and traces the development and implementation of the Writing Across the Curriculum Project. An introduction notes the importance…

Most school writing required of students is done in artificial situations that have little resemblance to the writing demands people actually face. For this reason, students often fail to see the value of writing and thus produce writing that does not reflect their true ability to communicate. In a bilingual Los Angeles school serving students…

This document contains 58 poems, essays, letters, personal narratives, reminiscences, and short stories that were selected from 255 entries submitted by 170 adult student writers in Ohio. The student-authored literary works, which adult educators can use in their adult literacy classrooms, are grouped under the following themes: family, learning,…

Describes a study on college level remediation, examining how students classified as remedial are cognitively and socially defined. Analyzes a student's writing sample in the context of her past school experiences, future goals, and attitudes towards literacy. (MM)

Presents a critical overview of trends in research on writing skills. Defines criteria for the studies based on current cognitive writing models. Includes treatments designed to change writer activity by influencing knowledge and cognitive functions. Discusses acquisition of knowledge or expert skills, interaction with other writers, and computer…

Describes an AIDS-centered curriculum for a composition class in a New York City community college. Describes selecting a text, assignments, attending a conference, guest speakers, and the research paper. Notes that the subject of AIDS not only provokes reflective writing and much class discussion but also compels writers to express and sometimes…

There has been a growing emphasis within educational literature on the need to encourage all learners to think critically about whatever they are studying. There were concerns that this aim was not being achieved in a degree program for VET tutors. One purpose of the study was to quantify the extent of critical thinking in one cohort of VET…

This article examines a children's book writing workshop for middle school students of color in which 12 girls participated. The curriculum was developed to create intersections between students' in- and out-of-school lives. The students' writing within the workshop is analyzed by unpacking their "recontextualizations" of settings, characters,…

This article employs the concept of intersubjectivity to analyze developments in and discrepancies between students' understandings of criteria for effective writing and the criteria of their teacher. It reports on a study that employed qualitative methods of interview and classroom observation in conjunction with analysis of students' writing and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate predictors of early writing for low-income, urban students. Drawing on research and theory characterizing literacy development as a complex, integrative process, the author analyzed growth in the descriptive writing of students in Grades 1-3. The participants were 309 low-income children enrolled in 16…

Data on the implementation of state-mandated portfolio assessment guidelines were collected in a class of 25 fourth-grade students in a Kentucky urban school, using participant observation, interviews, and document analysis. The use of computers as word processors was found to facilitate students' ability to read their work aloud to their class,…