In this study, we examined whether early, supplemental strategy instruction in planning helped ameliorate writing difficulties. Second-grade students experiencing difficulty learning to write were taught a strategy for planning and writing stories. Learning to use the strategy had a positive effect on writing, as students' stories became more…

The purpose of this article is to relate the different scholarly views on reading and writing problems, proposed by influential agents with different research backgrounds, to the general development of participation in schooling and to educational policies in the Swedish welfare state during the 1900s. An historical perspective makes it possible…

Research into the behaviours manifested by the dyslexic condition has often focused upon younger dyslexic pupils and the lower-order skill difficulty in decoding and encoding. A surge in interest in the writing process has shifted the focus to higher-order skills, and a growing body of research is emerging within the higher education context…

This article presents a case study of a fourth grade boy's experiences in writing, preceding and following a story he wrote about a boy whose struggles in writing led directly to his death. We explore how Max's writing experiences related to his identity, specifically his sense of himself as a writer, his struggle to communicate his ideas, and his…

This article presents a comprehensive model of daily, classroom informal writing assessment that is constantly linked to instruction and the characteristics of proficient writers. Methods for promoting teacher, student, and parent collaboration and their roles in dialoguing, conferencing, and reflection are discussed. Strategies for including…

Despite the repeated adage that "no two LD (learning disabled) students are alike, it is not only possible but important to focus on the most common errors of LD college writers in order to learn how best to serve these students. There are in fact two main categories of these students: severely learning disabled and classically learning…

The claims for the huge numbers of students suffering from the "latest scams" in literacy education--learning disability, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, at risk, and hypoglycemia--are driven by political, economic, and social profits with minimal concern for children. While such problems exist, the phrases used to describe these…

This text, like the earlier edition, is based on an interactive view of ability and disability. It differs from the previous edition in its focus on reading and writing together as integral dimensions of literacy. The interactive approach suggests that reading or writing disability may reflect the match between the learner and the conditions of…

Nonnative English speaking students have usually felt intense pressure and loss of self-esteem in the typical English classroom in the United States. This is a direct result of America's longstanding distrust of foreigners, and the condescension with which the educational system has sometimes treated nonnative speakers. According to C. B. Stein,…

After several years in academic public relations, a professional writer returned to teaching composition. After her first attendance at the annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, she experienced a turning point in her view of "the essay." Following the conference, she changed her assignments from…

A study traced the discourse control of one writer, over 3 years, from his basic writing course to his junior year "membership" in academia. It reported on the student's transitions in areas of print code control in 28 writing tasks from 6 classes covering 3 disciplines. The analysis involved 38 error patterns, including spelling,…

As a by-product of a study concerning how university level writers develop new genres of discourse, a study was undertaken to examine what factors or dimensions affect the composing process of university writers. Six undergraduate students at Carleton University in Ottawa participated, making available to researchers information about how they…

The report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress entitled "Poor Writing Performance Blamed on Scant Writing Practice" makes it clear that little progress has been made in the improvement of students' writing. This is true in part because the conditions for teaching writing are unsatisfatory. The time has come to undertake a…

The computer represents an instrument of change for students and teachers alike. For most students learning to use the computer to write, the writing process is temporarily more difficult and stressful and capable of creating a highly charged, emotional trauma for the writer. The constraints of learning what keys to push and how to get out of…

To link the perspectives of Walter Ong on the history of literacy to the psychological context of college writers, this paper contrasts the mind-sets that are important to writers: the oral community of the ancient epic and the modern psychological perspective, with its emphasis on the one against the many. In the first section of the paper, Ong's…