Topic: Research on Writing

Topic: Research-based Recommendations for Teaching Writing Effectively

10-second review: Length of papers; types of assignments; grammar; collaborative writing; compose in a variety of media; respond to drafts; variety of assessments including portfolios.

Title: “Research-based Recommendations for Effective Writing Instruction and Assessment.” James R. Squire Office for Policy Research. Council Chronicle (September 2008), 20. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary:
Students should write extensively in order to prepare for 5-page papers in high school and ten-page papers in college.

Assignments should interpret and analyze.

Grammar should be functional, i.e., studied in the context of writing.

Students should learn to write collaboratively.

Students should learn to compose using a variety of media—film, slides, tape recorders as well as print.

Respond to student drafts, not just the final copy.

Evaluate writing using a variety of assessment tools—rubrics, scales and portfolios in which student papers are collected.

Comment: Can’t argue with these recommendations. RayS.

The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.