This bulletin reports on studies dealing with the major role of composition and the supporting roles of discussing, dictating, illustrating, spelling, and handwriting in improving the language skills of elementary school students. Chapters include "Composition in Primary Grades," which stresses the importance of teaching children to express themselves in writing by the end of the primary grades and lists 136 selected references; "Written Composition in the Intermediate Grades," which discusses the results of research in grades 4,5, and 6 showing effective teaching methods which produce high quality writing; "Grammar in Language Teaching," which concludes that for the teaching of English idiom and the standard use of the remaining inflections in the language, neither old nor new grammar is an efficient tool for improving composition; Handwriting and Children's Composition," which explores the inconclusive evidence about handwriting and suggests certain directions for more research; "Research in Spelling," which, in addition to reviewing the literature and suggesting new directions for research, contains a 319-item bibliography; and "Evaluating Children's Composition," which presents numerous ideas and ways of evaluating written composition. (RB)