Schools should be instructing students in formal thought and expression—what we call “comprehending”—rather than in everyday or “home” thought and language—what we call “understanding.” In this essay we suggest general changes in the standard reading and writing curricula. Finally, we examine the language of writing instruction, in college-level individual writing conferences, to take a close look at issues involved in implementing the curricula for higher and lower achieving students.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, R. C.
, & Freebody, P. (1980). Vocabulary knowledge (Technical Report No. 136). Urbana, IL: Center for the Study of Reading.
2.
Atkin, J. M.
(1980). Using the law to change schools. Paper presented at Special Education Conference, Institute on Finance and Governance, School of Education, Stanford University.
3.
Beck, I. L.
, & McCaslin, E. S. (1978). An analysis of dimensions that affect the development of code-breaking ability in eight beginning reading programs. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh.
4.
Beck, I. L.
, McKeown, M. G., McCaslin, E. S., & Burkes, A. M. (1979). Instructional dimensions that affect reading comprehension: Examples from two commercial reading programs. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh.
5.
Bereiter, C.
(1980). Development in writing. In L. Gregg & E. Steinberg (Eds.), Cognitive processes in writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence J. Erlbaum.
6.
Bissex, G.
(1980). GNYS at work. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
7.
Bridwell, L.
(1980). Revision strategies in twelfth grade students' transactional writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 14, 197-222.
8.
Brown, A.
(1977). Knowing when, where, and how to remember: A problem of metacognition (Technical Report No. 47), Urbana, IL: Center for the Study of Reading.
9.
Bruner, J.
(1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University.
10.
Calfee, R.
, & Curley, R. (in press). Structures of prose in the content areas. In J. Flood (ed.), Understanding reading comprephension. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
11.
Calfee, R.
, & Spector, J. (1981). Separable processes in reading. In F. Pirozzolo & M. Wittrock (Eds.), Neuropsychological and cognitive processes in reading. New York: Academic Press.
12.
Calfee, R.
, Spector, J., & Piontowski, D. (1979). Assessing reading and language skills: An interactive system. Bulletin of the Orton Society, 129-156.
13.
Chafe, W.
(1980). The deployment of consciousness in the production of a narrative. In W. Chafe (Ed.), The pear stories: Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic aspects of a narrative production. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
14.
Chafe, W.
(1982). Integration and involvement in speaking, writing, and oral literature. In D. Tannen (Ed.), Spoken and written language. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
15.
Chafe, W.
, & Danielewicz, J. (in press). Properties of spoken and written language. In R. Horowitz & J. Samuels (Eds.), Comprehending spoken and written language. New York: Academic Press.
16.
Chall, J.
(1977). An analysis of textbooks in relation to declining SAT scores. Paper prepared for the Advisory Panel on the Scholastic Aptitude Test Score Decline, sponsored by College Entrance Examination Board and Educational Testing Service.
17.
Chomsky, C.
(1970). Reading, writing and phonology. Harvard Educational Review, 40, 287-309.
18.
Cicourel, A.et al.
(1974). Language use and school performance. New York: Academic Press.
19.
to literacy. In Marcia Farr Whiteman (Ed.), Variation in writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence J. Erlbaum.
20.
Daiker, D.
, Kerek, A., & Morenberg, M. (1979). The writer's options: College sentence combining. New York: Harper & Row.
21.
de Beaugrande, R.
(1981). Psychology and composition. Past. present, future. In M. Nystrand (Ed.), What writers know: Studies in the psychology of writing. New York: Academic Press.
22.
Durkin, D.
(1978). What classroom observations reveal about reading comprehension instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 13, 5-6.
23.
Education Daily. (1980). Ann Arbor completes study of black English training. 13(246), 5-6.
24.
Ehri, L.
(1979). Linguistic insight: Threshold of reading acquisition. In T. C. Waller & G. E. MacKinnon (Eds.), Reading research: Advances in theory and practice (Vol. I). New York: Academic Press.
25.
Faigley, L.
, & Witte, S. (1981). Analyzing revision. College Composition and Communication, 32, 400-414.
26.
Fillmore, C.
(1981). Ideal readers and real readers. In D. Tannen (Ed.), Georgetown University round table on languages and linguistics. Washington: Georgetown University Press.
27.
Flower, L.
(1979). Writer-based prose: A cognitive base for problems in writing. College English, 41, 19-37.
28.
Flower, L.
, & Hayes, J. R. (1980). A process model of composition. In L. Gregg & E. Steinberg (Eds.), Cognitive processes in writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence J. Erlbaum.
29.
Freedman, S.
(1980a). College students reveal their learning processes. Resources in education (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 181 452).
30.
Freedman, S.
(1980b). Teaching and learning in the writing conference. Resources in education (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 185 599).
31.
Freedman, S.
(1981). Evaluation in the writing conference: An interactive process. In M. Hairston & C. Selfe (Eds.), Selected papers from the 1981 Texas writing research conference. Austin: University of Texas at Austin.
32.
Freedman, S.
(1982). Student teacher conversations about writing: Shifting topics in the writing conference. Resources in Education (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 214-181).
33.
Freedman, S.
(1983). The student teacher writing conference: Key techniques. Journal of English Teaching Techniques12, 38-45.
34.
Freedman, S.
, & Katz, A. (in press). Pedagogical interaction during the composing process: The writing conference. In A. Matsuhashi (Ed.) Writing in real time: Modelling production processes. New York: Academic Press.
35.
Freedman, S.
, & Sperling, M. (in press). Teacher student interaction in the writing conference: Response and teaching. In S. Freedman (Ed.), The acquisition of written language: Revision and response. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
36.
Friere, P.
(1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.
37.
Goody, J.
(1977). The domestication of the savage mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Goody, J.
(1977). The domestication of the savage mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
39.
Graves, D.
(1978). Balancing the basics: Let them write. New York: Ford Foundation.
40.
Graves, D.
(1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Exeter, NH: Heinemann Press.
41.
Hamilton, M. E.
, & Barton, D. (1980). A word is a word: Metalinguistic skills in adults of varying literacy levels. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.
42.
Heath, S. B.
(1980). Literacy and the future of print: The functions and uses of literacy. Journal of Communication, 30, 123-133.
43.
Heath, S. B.
, & Branscombe, A. (in press). “Intelligent Writing” in an audience community: Teacher, students, and researcher. In S. Freedman (Ed.), The acquisition of written language: Revision and response. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
44.
Hillocks, G.
(1983). What approaches to teaching writing make a difference in quality. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Denver.
45.
Holden, C.
(1980). Doubts mounting about all-volunteer force. Science, 209, 1095-1099.
46.
Inkeles, A.
(1978). The future of individual modernity. In J. M. Yinger & S. J. Cutler (Eds.), Major social issues. New York: The Free Press.
47.
Kintsch, W.
, & van Dijk, T. (1978). Toward a model of text comprehension and production. Psychological Review, 85, 363-394.
48.
Kroll, Barbara
(1977). Combining ideas in written and spoken English. Discourse across Time and Space. Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics, 5, 69-108.
49.
Kroll, Barry
, & Vann, R. (1981). Exploring speaking-writing relationships: Connections and contrasts. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
50.
Labov, W.
, & Fanschel, D. (1977). Therapeutic discourse: Psychotherapy as conversation. New York: Academic Press.
51.
LaBerge, D.
, & Samuels, J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 293-323.
52.
Lawlor, J.
(1980). Improving student writing through sentence combining: A literature review (Technical Note 2-80/05). Los Alamitos, CA: Southwest Regional Laboratory.
53.
Litowitz, B.
(1977). Learning to make definitions. Journal of Child Language, 4, 289-304.
54.
Mandler, J.
(1975). Consciousness: respectable, useful, and probably necessary. In R. Solso (Ed.), Information processing and cognition: the Loyala symposium. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence J. Erlbaum.
55.
McNamee, G. D.
(1979). The social interaction origins of narrative skills. The Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, 1, 63-68.
56.
Mellon, J.
(1969). Transformational sentence-combining: A method for enhancing the development of syntactic fluency in English composition (Research Report No. 10). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
57.
Michaels, S.
(in press). Narrative presentations and oral preparations for literacy with first graders. In J. Cook-Gumperz (Ed.), The social construction of literacy. London: Cambridge University Press.
58.
Nold, E.
(1981). Revising. In C. Frederiksen & J. Dominic (Eds.), Writing: the nature, development and teaching of written communication. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence J. Erlbaum.
59.
O'Donnell, R.
(1974). Syntactic differences between speech and writing. American Speech, 49, 102-110.
60.
O'Hare, F.
(1973). Sentence Combining: Improving Student Writing without Formal Grammar Instruction (Research Report No. 15). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
61.
O'Hare, F.
(1974). Sentencecraft: An elective course in writing. Lexington, MA: Ginn & Company.
62.
Olson, D.
(1977). From utterance to text: The bias of language in speech and writing. Harvard Educational Review, 47, 257-281.
63.
Olson, D.
(1980). On the language and authority of textbooks. Journal of Communication, 30, 186-196.
64.
Piaget, J.
(1970). Piaget's theory. In P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Carmichael's manual of child psychology (3rd edition). New York: John Wiley.
65.
Piaget, J.
(1976). The grasp of consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
66.
Pittenger, R.
, Hockett, C., & Daneky, J. (1960). The first five minutes: A sample of microscopic interview analysis. Ithaca, NY: Paul Martineau.
67.
Read, C.
(1975). Children's categorization of speech sounds in English (Research Report No. 17). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
68.
Rowher, W.
, Ammon, P., & Cramer, P. (1974). Understanding intellectual development. New York: Dryden Press.
69.
Rumelhart, D. E.
(1975). Notes on a schema for stories. In D. G. Bobrow & A. M. Collins (Eds.), Representation and understanding: Studies in cognitive science. New York: Academic Press.
70.
Rumelhart, D. E.
(1977). Understanding and summarizing brief stories. In D. LaBerge & J. Samuels (Eds.), Basic processes in reading: Perception and comprehension. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence J. Erlbaum.
71.
Sachs, H.
, Schegloff, E., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50, 696-735.
72.
Schatz, M.
(1978). The relationship between cognitive processes and the development of communication skills. In B. Keasey (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
73.
Scribner, S.
, & Cole, M. (1973). Cognitive consequence of formal and informal education. Science, 182, 553-559.
74.
Scribner, S.
, & Cole, M. (1978). Literacy without schooling. Harvard Educational Review, 48, 448-461.
75.
Scribner, S.
, & Cole, M. (1982). The psychology of literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
76.
Searle, J.
(1975). Indirect speech acts. In P. Cole & J. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics (vol. 3). New York: Academic Press.
77.
Shaughnessy, M.
(1977). Errors and expectations: A guide for the teacher of basic writing. New York: Oxford University Press.
78.
Smith, W.
, & Combs, W. (1980). The effects of overt and covert cues on written syntax. Research in the Teaching of English, 14, 233-242.
79.
Sommers, N.
(1980). Revision strategies of student writers and experienced adult writers. College Composition and Communication, 31, 378-388.
80.
Strong, W.
(1977). Sentence combining: A composing book. New York: Random House.
81.
Strong, W.
(1981). Sentence-combining and paragraph building. New York: Random House.
82.
Tannen, D.
(Ed.). (1982). Spoken and written language. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
83.
Traugott, E.
, & Pratt, M. L. (1980). Linguistics for students of literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
84.
Tyack, D.
(1974). The one best system: A history of American urban education.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
85.
Vygotsky, L.
(1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
86.
Walsh, J.
(1981). Is R & D the key to the productivity problem?Science, 211, 685-688.
87.
Wells, C. G.
(1979). Language, literacy and educational success. New Education, 1, 23-34.
88.
Wise, A. E.
(1979). Legislated learning. Berkeley: University of California Press.
89.
Witte, S.
(1980). Review of D. A. Daiker, A. Kerek, & M. Morenberg, Sentence Combining and the Teaching of Writing (Akron, OH: University of Akron, 1979). College Composition and Communication, 31, 433-437.
