Addresses the argument that private writing is not really private. Explores the role of empirical evidence. Offers arguments that acknowledge private writing as different from public or social writing. Discusses methods of researching private writing. (CR)

The attribution of low literacy levels among Gypsy children to difficulties of access to schools neglects underlying sociocultural explanations. There has been little analysis in reports/studies of Gypsy attitudes toward literacy, nor of outcomes of acquisition. Informed by new literacy theory and by the discourse of previous ethnographic studies,…

Interest in social construction has coincided with a widespread movement to situate the composing process in a social-cognitive paradigm. Because social and emotional themes overlap, writing specialists assume that the emotional components of writing have been taken care of. However, by being absorbed into social themes, the emotional experience…

Relates the story of how the author connected for the first time, in the 11th grade, with writing, awakening in her something she did not know she had. (SR)

Includes an interview with writer Lydia Davis. Discusses her definition of story, her use of endings, and her language choice. Provides an excerpt of her translation of Marcel Proust's "Swann's Way." (PM)

Presents an appreciation in honor and praise of language arts educator Donald H. Graves. Describes the rewards, now compounding through the generations, of his gentle encouragement and his continual modeling as a learner himself, teaching students and classroom teachers to value all they know and all they can do through writing compassionately and…

Examines the question of whether writers have to stick to literal facts of a story. Contends that the type of memoir a writer produces is determined in part by that writer's sensibility, as well as by how that writer views the genre. Concludes that the emotional truths of memoirs are often better served by how they are remembered than by how they…

Considers what poets themselves have to say about poetry. Discusses how they write poems, why they write poems, and what poetry is good for. (RS)

Offers a poet's reflections on writing and his schooling. (PRA)

Describes the encounters with children experienced by a writer of children's books when she makes school visits. Reflects on how authors' visits to schools positively affect children's interest in reading and writing. (SR)

Presents an interview with author Margaret Atwood about teaching writing, her experience of writing, and Canadian literature. (SR)

Discusses the somatic mind, a permeable materiality in which mind and body resolve into a single entity which is (re)formed by the constantly shifting boundaries of discursive and corporeal intertextualities. Addresses its importance in composition studies. Critiques the poststructuralist disregard of corporeality. (CR)

Suggests that, although the benefits of word processing are widely acknowledged, writing is still perceived as a difficult activity. Considers the degree to which particular features of word processing might constitute new and significant impediments to individual writers. Discusses this issue with writers who expressed concerns that their…

Analyzes teachers' conceptual maps of literacy teaching as the preliminary phase of a research program aimed at describing and enhancing pupils' functional use of literacy across the curriculum. Notes similarities and contrasts between the views of primary and secondary teachers. Finds that teachers have complex models of literacy and do not…

This study examines young children's attitudes toward reading and writing as it relates to the literacy environment in which they had been enrolled. Children (N = 201) attending magnet schools (schools established to address desegregation mandates) in a large urban, midwestern school district were given a reading and writing attitude survey the…