Annotates articles, dissertations, and papers on the subject of research in the teaching of English. Organizes annotations under the categories of writing, language, literature, and teacher education. (MS)

Reports two studies of comprehensible and memorable expository writing. Finds that Time-Life editors' revisions of a high school history text improved eleventh grade students' recall, while revisions made by text linguists and composition instructors did not. But given latitude to change content, all editors' revisions improved recall. (RAE)

Describes the changes basic writers made to an impromptu in-class essay when the essays were taken home and revised. Suggests that some basic writers have sophisticated revising skills, and that assessment which allows time for revision can give these students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. (RAE)

Tests the claims of proponents of invented spelling by comparing the progress of children encouraged to use invented spelling with those encouraged to use traditional spelling in their creative writing. (RAE)

Argues that one way to investigate the relationship of text to story taker (reader or listener) is to compare how the writer has made the story to how the story taker has recreated the story. Indicates a resonance between the story taker's retelling and the original text. (RAE)

Proposes a method for describing the relationship between writing error and style shifting rates across communicative situations. Finds that errors diminished in proportion to the tendency of students to select grammatical features that are shared by Black American English and Standard American English in formal communicative situations. (RAE)

Reports on a study of genre and register that reaches the following conclusions concerning the teaching of language and literature: (1) teaching should concentrate on the move structure of genres and the concomitant move registers rather than the general register of a genre as a whole; and (2) the teaching of reading and writing should be…

Reports on a study of teacher-student writing conferences which finds that conferences have an effect on the revision process; and the divergent backgrounds students bring to instructional events (in terms of writing ability, writing experience, or native language) have a structuring effect that cannot be dismissed solely as teacher bias or…

Describes one element of the reading act as it operates in time--how "good-enough" readers of complex fiction strike a personal balance between the need for momentum and the need for accountability to the text. Draws from protocols provided by 33 readers, from eighth grade to Ph.D. level, following two readings of a novel. (PA)

Explores possible benefits of placing considerations of genre as more central to dialogs and debates about language arts education. Aims for a theoretical framework emphasizing the responsive and agentive engagement of students working through disciplinary literacies. Considers ways in which one first-grade teacher helped a non-middle-class…

Takes a systematic approach to defining and operationalizing the notion of discourse community, drawing on data from an ethnography of writing in a workplace setting. States that a single genre varied in form and function depending on the specific discourse communities in which it was used--writing events took on layered meanings in relation to…

Examines four types of evidence of literacy trends and performance among schools and students: national literacy data; then-and-now studies; Scholastic Aptitude Test trends; and test renorming studies, particularly those pertaining to the 1970s. Argues that both sides of the debate concerning the quality of education have misrepresented evidence…

Takes issue with an essay by Lewis Lapham that criticizes the literacy and historical knowledge of school children and suggests that democracy depends on an informed and literate citizenry. Gives historical context to the idea of an informed citizenry by looking at public involvement and response to the Lincoln-Douglas debates. (TB)

Investigates how classroom communities were created to support students' writing in two contrasting grade-10 English classrooms: one in a low-income urban school with a diverse population, one in a middle-class suburban school. Analyzes class discussions to see how they functioned in creating community. Portrays writing in both classrooms as…

Explores responses of 10 fifth graders to the dialog of a play. Creates 12 speech act interruption points and asks children to write predictions for the character's line. Examines these for conversational cooperativity. Finds children's oral explanations for their predictions revealed two major interpretive stances--an interactive focus and a…