Annotated Research in English (4)

Topics: Self-assessment of writing processes; business writing; task-specific writing strategies

Question: How can self-assessments of writing processes by other writers help in learning to write?

Answer: “Exploring writers’ self-assessed processes and the implications for teaching writing.” “Found value in examining the self-assessments of other writers.” RW Luce. 1989. P. 449.

Comment: These self-assessments of writing processes can provide new ways of approaching writing and realization that other student writers have similar problems. Interesting. RayS.

Business Writing

Question: What is one hindrance to effective business writing?

Answer: “…found that participants worked from stereotypes about what constitutes good business writing.” RW Shuy and DG Robinson. 1990. P. 449.

Comment: “In re…” and other specialized abbreviations “off put” readers of business correspondence. RayS.

Task-specific Writing Strategies

Question: How do general composing strategies affect task-specific writing?

Answer: “Students who learned task-specific composing strategies brought to bear a wider range of thinking strategies in writing than did students who used general procedures for writing” P Smagorinsky. 1989. P. 450.

Comment: The problem with these short annotated summaries of research is that they very often do not explain terms. For instance, I’m not sure what “task-specific” writing strategies mean. I’m guessing that it means writing résumés, letters of application, and more specific types of business correspondence, for example. And for that type of writing, I begin with models. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1990), 441-457.