Research in English: Research Briefs.

Purpose of this blog: Reviews of interesting research in English education journals. When possible, I suggest applications to the classroom.

10-second review: Writing assessment. Writing apprehension. Planning a writing curriculum.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RLO Larson and A Bechan. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1992), 446-465.

Writing Assessment. Interprets the results of a fourteen-nation inquiry into students’ achievement, in composition. Judgments about writing inevitably look at the written product, not the process that shaped it. A Purves. P. 456. 1992. [Comment: Stands to reason. Students in writing assessments don’t have time to use the writing process in the 25 minutes allotted in the SAT exam or even in the typically one-hour state tests. And if the writing process could be measured, how would you do it? RayS.]

Writing Apprehension. From a study of students in public and private colleges in California, concluded that apprehensive students should be encouraged to engage in journal writing and other kinds of personal writing. AM Walsh. P. 458. 1989.

Planning a Writing Curriculum. This work examined the collaboration among teachers and students as they “jointly constructed the writing curriculum.” K Schultz. P. 459. 1991. [Comment: Never thought of it. Why not? RayS.]