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This article highlights how teachers can use poetry writing through the instructional contexts of shared, interactive, guided, and independent writing to provide intentional scaffolding for writers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to describe how teachers implemented student‐led minilessons in writing instruction. We use observations from two elementary classrooms to provide examples of student‐led instruction focused on digital and translingual composing. Through these examples, we outline three steps teachers can take to support student‐led composing instruction: (1) look for innovative student composing practices, (2) yield the floor to students, and (3) lend support as needed. We conclude by discussing how student‐led composing instruction positions children as experts and models in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the letters and the character of Frances 'Fanny' Brawne together as a model for criticism at the present time, as well as a meaningful indication of how criticism was practiced by laypeople in the Romantic period. Focusing on Keats's great love affair rather than on Keats himself, or on Keats to the exclusion of his interlocuters, I describe the erotic conflict between Brawne and the poet as a form of agonistic engagement between writer and critic–the one tragic in impulse, the other more comic. Toward the end of the essay, I ask how conflict of this kind may be understood, in Stanley Cavell's terms, not as the ugly underside of love but as one of its most significant expressions, a way of keeping up (in Cavell's words) 'the conversation love demands'. Throughout, the essay queries the relation between criticism and love, and how that relation might contest contemporary thinking around affect and pleasure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given Wikipedia's breadth of coverage, social impact, and longevity as an impactful open knowledge resource, the encyclopedia has been the subject of considerable interdisciplinary research. Building on scholarship related to collaboration, authorship, ownership, and editing in Wikipedia, this study sought to better understand Wikipedians as writers, paying specific attention to their sense of ownership. While previous research has shown that editors engage in individualist editing practices at times, often ignoring community-mediated policy regarding ownership, findings from a mixed-method survey of 117 editors demonstrate the existence of both "individual" and "community" notions of ownership that often reinforce, or mutually inform, each other. This study adds clarity to these issues by demonstrating how feelings of individual ownership, voice, and pride in writing often occur in collaborative circumstances. This research ultimately extends our understanding of collaborative writing in what is one of the most well-known collaborative websites. Despite contemporary theoretical strides advocating for relinquishing ownership concepts in favor of distributed or ecological frameworks, the concept of ownership remains prevalent within digital writing communities, exemplified by Wikipedia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual article discusses a collaborative approach to building teacher capacity to support multilingual learners in secondary science classrooms. The article advocates for the collaborative analysis of student writing samples and the sharing of pedagogical insights between English language and content area teachers. Samples of student writing are analyzed situationally and linguistically to model how teachers may focus collaborative conversations on language patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper employs an exploratory framework to evaluate the potential of ChatGPT as an Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) tool in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Thailand. The main objective is to investigate how well ChatGPT can assess students’ writing using prompts and pre-defined rubrics compared to human raters. Moreover, the study examines its strengths and weaknesses as an assessment tool by analysing the teachers’ reflections during the assessment process. Quantitative analyses revealed significant relationships between trial accounts in comparison with the human ratings. Qualitative analysis unearths patterns in the feedback, shedding light on ChatGPT’s strengths and its limitations as an AWE tool. ChatGPT displays substantial promise as an AWE tool, offering distinct features such as human-like interface, consistency, efficiency, and scalability. Nonetheless, educators must be cognisant of its limitations. This study recognises that the strategic use of ChatGPT could enhance the evaluation process among teachers and foster the development of EFL students’ written communication skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe aim of this interpretive qualitative study was to explore how environmental factors influence the transition from relying solely on graphic symbols to using spelling in face-to-face communicative interactions, from the perspective of literate adults with speech and motor impairments who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Fourteen adults either chose to submit a written story with weekly email follow-up, took part in interviews conducted via Zoom1, or chose to communicate solely by email. Researchers analyzed data using Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory approach. The analysis yielded three themes explaining environmental factors relevant to the transition from using graphic symbols to spelling in communication: (a) access to AAC systems and services; (b) knowledgeable and supportive communication partners who have high expectations; and (c) opportunities to learn reading, writing, and spelling. Supportive factors included providing sufficient time for spelling in communicative interactions, structured learning opportunities for practice and independence, opportunities to learn through socially meaningful interactions and having print-rich and language-rich activity settings. Slow speed in navigating graphic symbols and lack of ability to express an exact message were motivational reasons for participants to use spelling in communicative interactions. The interaction among environmental factors and person-related characteristics warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This intervention study examined the writing abilities of 1st (ages 6–7) and 2nd (ages 7–8) grade students in the Basque Autonomous Community, utilising Basque, Spanish, and English. We compared two distinct teaching methodologies: the PYCTO methodology, which employs a multilingual approach for teaching writing across the three languages, and the traditional monolingual approach, focusing on one language only. 873 compositions written in these languages were analysed using quantitative methods. Lexical richness was evaluated using analytic measures, while holistic measures assessed overall writing competence in four dimensions. The results indicated that students taught using the PYCTO methodology significantly outperformed those taught with the traditional monolingual approach in both 1st and 2nd grades. This finding underscores the effectiveness of multilingual teaching methods over the conventional monolingual approach, suggesting that integrating various known languages in teaching offers substantial benefits in language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate reading-writing relations. Beyond the overall relation, we systematically investigated moderation of the relation as a function of linguistic grain size (word reading and spelling versus reading comprehension and written composition), measurement of reading comprehension (e.g., multiple choice, open-ended, cloze), and written composition (e.g., writing quality, writing productivity, writing fluency, writing syntax), and developmental phase of reading and writing (grade levels as a proxy). A total of 395 studies (k = 2,265, N = 120,669) met inclusion criteria. Overall, reading and writing were strongly related (r =.72). However, the relation differed depending on the subskills of reading and writing such that word reading and spelling were strongly related (r =.82) whereas reading comprehension and written composition were moderately related (r =.44). In addition, the word reading-spelling relation was stronger for primary-grade students (r =.82) than for university students/adults (r =.69). The relation of reading comprehension with written composition differed depending on measurement of reading comprehension and written composition—reading comprehension measured by multiple choice and open-ended tasks had a stronger relation with writing quality than reading comprehension measured by oral retell tasks; and reading comprehension had moderate relations with writing quality, writing vocabulary, writing syntax, and writing conventions but had weak relations with writing productivity and writing fluency. Relations tended to be stronger when reliability was higher, and the relation between word reading and spelling was stronger for alphabetic languages (r =.83) than for Chinese (r =.71). These results add important nuances about the nature of relations between reading and writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 50+ years, there has been a huge rise in interest in consumer language research. This article spotlights the emergence and evolution of this area, identifying key themes and trends and highlighting topics for future research. Work has evolved from exploration of broad language concepts (e.g. rhetorics) to specific linguistic features (e.g. phonemes) and from monologues (e.g. advertiser to consumer) to two-way dialogues (e.g. consumer to service representative and back). We discuss future opportunities that arise from past trends and suggest two important shifts that prompt questions for future research: the new shift toward using voice (vs. hands) when interacting with objects and the ongoing shift toward using hands (vs. voices) to communicate with people. By synthesizing the past, and delineating a research agenda for the future, we hope to encourage more researchers to begin to explore this burgeoning area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research suggests that reading and viewing fiction (compared with expository nonfiction) may enhance social cognition. The purpose of this research was threefold: we tested whether this effect (here operationalized as persons vs, objects) extended to writing, we contrasted the effect of fictionality (real vs. imaginary) versus social content, and we delved into mechanism by examining the degree to which any effects found were mediated by the linguistic content of the writings that participants produced. Results confirmed that writing about persons versus objects has a similar effect as reading or viewing. At the same time, we found no effect of fictionality. Importantly, the person/object manipulation had a direct effect on both social and nonsocial language in the writings produced, with person-focused texts relying more on emotional language and object-focused texts containing more analytical and causal language. Writing about persons had an indirect effect on social cognition via emotional content, which did not depend on fictionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how L2 learners of Korean in foreign language-learning environments manifest the target knowledge as a function of various factors surrounding the learners (e.g., L2 textbook input, language-specific properties, general language-use experience in class), specifically concerning the learners' written production of the postposition–verb pair in a locative postposition–verb construction. For this purpose, we analyze two textbook types and learner writing from two L1 groups, focusing on postposition/verb use, Type–Token Ratio, and keyness. We find some meaningful relationships, but also inconsistencies, between L2 textbook input and L2 written production regarding this construction. We discuss implications of the findings with respect to how L2 knowledge is shaped at the interface of L2-textbook characteristics, language-specific properties involving the target knowledge, learners' L1, and general language-use experience in class. Based on the results, we also discuss pedagogical implications, with emphasis on (methods and technologies of) utilizing the existing corpora for instructional purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of generative artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT, on the field of writing. The author explores the historical context of word processing and the anxieties surrounding new technologies. They argue that ChatGPT, with its ability to generate whole documents and genres of writing, represents a qualitative difference in writing technology. The author also raises concerns about the use of AI in writing, including issues of data mining, surveillance capitalism, environmental harm, and exploitative labor practices. They suggest that these technologies may lead to a post-alphabetic future where text loses its purpose as a format for human communication. [Extracted from the article]

In this work, the central points of writing teaching at the Faculty of Communication of the University of Montevideo in the twenty years that have passed since its foundation are presented and analyzed. The insistence on mastering the rules and uses of current Spanish, a program of challenging and close readings, personalized correction and self-correction as central instruments are some of the key learnings that result from this teaching experience. The teaching of reading and writing faces multiple challenges in a context of ephemeral relationship with the word and within the primacy of the captivating moving image. Communication faculties play a fundamental role in training professionals capable of "reading well", mainly to then be able to "write well". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (May 2006), the authors, then graduate students, interviewed Norman Denzin for Carolyn Ellis's Advanced Qualitative Methods graduate course at the University of South Florida. Only a few parts of the interview had ever been published. The authors include the transcript of the interview here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a languaging perspective, this paper considers how kindergarten students and their teacher are relationally and intellectually responsive to one another in authoring conversations by constructing a sense of copresence. Copresence is defined by Goffman (1966) as being "uniquely accessible, available, and subject to one another" (p. 22). In this paper, I make Goffman's construct visible by showing how students and their teacher discursively align with each other. Microethnographic discourse analyses of sharing time events in writing workshop reveal that copresence is performed as playfulness, empathy, and disagreement. Implications include using the construct of copresence to assess the relation between the performance of authoring and the social life of the classroom as well as drawing upon the dialogic, improvisational nature of copresence as a point of pedagogical leverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Perspectives on Pedagogy acknowledges ongoing inequities in public health teaching and learning and describes the importance of implementing equity-focused teaching (EFT) approaches to serve present and future diverse public health student populations. Current equity-focused pedagogies being implemented within the field of public health are described, along with current limitations among public health instructors surrounding EFT training. We conclude with an example, offering recommendations to instructors on how to create transparently-designed writing assignments to support equitable learning in public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many faculty perform work as public intellectuals, producing essays, op-eds, interviews, and other forms of media to amplify their academic work. However, educational research has not examined how faculty conceptualize non-academic audiences, influencing who faculty address in their public scholarship and what they work on as public intellectuals. This study engaged with 14 education faculty members to explore how these individuals conceptualized the audiences for their public scholarship. Findings suggest faculty often conceptualize audiences of public scholarship as larger, non-academic audiences, speaking to the constraints of academic audiences. However, faculty often described their audiences as being educated, being educators, and being passionate about education—identities that they held—possibly perpetuating a public echo chamber between education faculty and educators in the public sphere. Implications for faculty development and public scholarship are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer review offers benefits to post-secondary students and their instructors. In recent years, some instructors have shifted to virtual means of student peer review; however, face-to-face peer review is still a viable option. This mixed-methods study explored the substance of peer review conversations, as well as their impact on students' academic writing, in a graduate-level research design course. Discourse analyses revealed that all peer review conversations displayed high levels of engagement. Results demonstrated that all students provided substantive comments to their peers, regardless of their scores on pre-draft papers. Peers consistently used mitigating and empathetic language with one another, which may have afforded students a better conduit for sharing constructive feedback. Final analyses of post-drafts revealed that students made revisions that aligned directly with peer feedback, which collectively resulted in higher post-draft scores. Conclusions underline that face-to-face peer review can support students academically and emotionally and encourage them to improve their writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dialogic peer feedback has been recommended and increasingly used in English as a foreign language writing context, yet the specific effects of peer-to-peer written dialogue about feedback remain under-researched. Using a quasi-experimental design, this empirical study investigated the effects of the presence/absence of written dialogue between the peer feedback provider and receiver on students' provision of feedback, adoption of received feedback, improvements in writing quality, and attitudes towards feedback dialogue across a four-week writing program. The study drew on several data sources including feedback texts, revision texts, a questionnaire survey and monthly reflection journals of forty-one students. Results showed that students involved in the written dialogue demonstrated a generally positive attitude towards it and outperformed those without such a process by generating more accurate adoption, focusing comments to a greater extent on higher-order dimensions of writing (unity, support and coherence), and implementing better revisions. The dialogic process enhanced students' feedback literacy and engagement by improving their understanding of feedback, their linguistic and subject knowledge, and their agentic clarification and negotiation of revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis article analyzes the importance of characters’ names in Alejandro Zambra's 2011 novel FORMAS DE VOLVER A CASA. Although proper names in most fiction have some meaning, Zambra uses the names, lack of names, pseudonyms and nicknames of his characters, particularly the two narrators who double Zambra himself, to guide the reader toward the novel's subject: the ethical and aesthetic pitfalls of writing fiction, not testimony, about the evils of the Pinochet regime. Negotiating these pitfalls will help Zambra's avatars, and all Chileans, toward a social reconciliation that has yet to be complete. Zambra´s citing of Romain Gary in the novel´s epigraph affords a crucial link between the ethical and aesthetic implications here discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study delves into the complex relationship between storytelling and historical understanding. Focused on how lower-secondary students employ narrative discourse in writing, it examines the extent to which their storytelling aids or limits historical comprehension. Drawing on systemic-functional linguistics and history education theories, the study highlights that while narratives might encourage personalized perspective-taking, thus potentially undermining objective historical analysis, they also reveal a more complex interplay between narrative form and historical insight than previously recognized. Through a comparative evaluation of student texts, it explores how certain types of narratives—descriptive, evocative, and emotive—interact with different foci of historical understanding. The analysis underscores the challenge of integrating broader historical analysis within personal narratives but also showcases successful examples of this integration. The article proposes strategies for educators to leverage storytelling more effectively, emphasizing the need for linguistic scaffolding to enhance students’ historical narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose inviting the body into the university writing process through somatic pedagogical practices. This study investigates an effort to write from our body and through our body in a course where students used the body as a site of creation. Challenging mind-body dualism and the erasure of bodily ways of knowing, students participated in Feldenkrais exercises to enhance awareness through movement by heightening habitual perception. Subsequently, students’ writing revealed increased admittance of uncertainty and reflexive engagement. They reflected on their own positionalities while considering the perspectives of hypothetical others, invoking augmented senses of social responsibility. In essence, they transferred physically experienced agency through functional movement to personal agency within hierarchical systems of power. This study suggests that somatic pedagogical interventions have the potential to activate reflexivity, foregrounding causal relations that begin with self-guided, felt realities in the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning to read and write are essential academic skills that children develop during their early years of primary school. These skills are supported by various predictive indices that emerge in early childhood. This review has three main goals: to identify which factors are closely examined as predictors for reading and writing, specifically decoding and encoding skills, in different populations and languages (Objective 1); to assess the longitudinal relationship between these predictors and reading and writing skills (Objective 2), considering difficulties or disorders in these areas (Objective 3), during school-age. Using the PRISMA methodology, 81 articles were reviewed. As a first result, there is a significant difference in the number of studies investigating the relationship between predictors and reading (n = 75) compared to writing (n = 18). The most extensively studied predictors for both skills are phonological awareness, language skills, executive functions, rapid automatized naming, and non-verbal cognitive skills. English is the most studied language. Results indicated variability in the relationship between predictors and reading/writing, possibly due to differences in the analyzed populations, chosen outcome measures, and statistical analyses. Additionally, few studies explored the long-term connection between predictors and learning difficulties. In summary, recognizing the multifaceted nature of predictive factors for reading and writing is crucial, and early screening is important for tailored preventive interventions in case of early deficiencies. Future research should delve into writing, conduct cross-cultural studies with diverse languages, and explore the role of predictive factors in understanding reading and writing difficulties or disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses updated models of the 7th-century bce economy to argue that the harvesting activities reported in the Meṣad Ḥashavyahu ostracon occurred at a small grain-cultivating site located in the Judahite highlands. The distance between this farmstead and the inscription’s coastal findspot explains why the ostracon was inscribed in the first place: the harvester could not appeal his case in person. As can be detected in the complaint, the granary complex in the Judahite highlands specialised in cereal products and was conversely not designed for the cultivation of a diversity of crops for local subsistence. This economic choice likely originated in Judah’s effort to contribute its own grain surpluses to a broader regional network of trade and commerce, one which was defined by specialised zones of surplus production that originated in the wake of Sennacherib's campaign in 701 bce. Because Egypt built the fortress in which the inscription was found and moreover coerced Judah's king and people into a new system of obligatory payment (2 Kgs 23:29-35), the ostracon represents a stunning glimpse into a time when Judah’s own administration was forcing its labourers to meet the extractive demands of an external power. The commander (śar) in the fortress was the logical authority for the harvester’s case, as (1) a high-ranking figure close to both the Egyptian and Judahite powers, (2) a recipient of inland grain products, and (3) a potential keeper of important transactional documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to describe the level of writing skills of children aged 5-6 years at the stage of crossing out, linear repetition/tracing horizontal writing, writing short writing in learning using the BCCT (Beyond Center and Circle Time) model at TK Negeri Pembina Tanjung Morawa in the 2023/2024 academic year. This study used descriptive qualitative research. This study was conducted with 9 children aged 5- 6 years old at TK Negeri Pembina Tanjung Morawa. The data in this study started from data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results of the study showed that the stages of children's writing skills in learning with the BCCT (Beyond Center and Circle Time) model were at the stages of crossing out, linear repetition, random writing, and writing names. While the other two showed the results of writing skills in learning with the BCCT (Beyond Center and Circle Time) model at the stages of crossing out, linear repetition, random writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the most prevalent category of disability served in the U.S. school system is specific learning disabilities (SLD), practitioners are often unfamiliar with the indicators associated with a specific LD such as dysgraphia and dyslexia. Misconceptions or an absence of understanding of the behavioral indicators related to dysgraphia and dyslexia puts children at risk for poor academic or social success due to a lack of intervention or late or missed diagnosis. Practitioners can utilize the Dysgraphia and Dyslexia Behavioral Indicator Checklist to identify these indicators in students' writing samples, design appropriate instructional intervention(s), and refer them for proper assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Afterward to a suite of papers studying and interpreting the work of Hans Loewald (Atsmon, Goldstein, Milch-Reich, Ofer, and Young, all this issue) takes the opportunity to reflect on why Loewald is currently in the air. It considers not only why Loewald, but why Loewald now, and, specifically, why Loewald especially in times of trouble? The meaning of an international Loewald Reading Group cohering during the time of Covid lockdown is emphasized, and the poignancy of the group originating as a way of continuing Lew Aron's teaching of Loewald, which was tragically cut short, is acknowledged and honored. Finally, the way that Loewald's writing challenges the reader to unpack a concentration of ideas (on the one hand) while relaxing and inviting them to dream freely and without judgment (on the other) is seen as a living out of the very theoretical precepts he evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in metadiscourse has foregrounded the multiple ways in which writers build a relationship with readers through internal discourse. Yet, few studies consider the relationship between the texts writers create and the metalinguistic thinking which informs their decision-making as writers. This paper draws on data from a larger study which sought to address this gap by investigating both the occurrence of metadiscourse in students' writing and their metalinguistic understanding of metadiscourse usage in their own texts. The sample comprised 195 students who wrote argument texts in both L1 Arabic (first language) and L2 English (second language), generating a corpus of 390 texts. Interviews were conducted with a sub-sample of 41 students to determine their metalinguistic thinking. In this paper we focus on transitions – the internal devices which mark the steps and connections in the discourse. The analysis evidences a limited metalinguistic understanding of the metadiscoursal function of transitions but a strong understanding of the linking function of transitions. This understanding tends to foreground transitions' textual rather than interpersonal role, emphasising the semantic and ideational. The paper argues that developing students' metalinguistic understanding of this interpersonal role would empower them to make more strategic, informed use of transitions in their own writing. This study is about understanding how students write in a way that connects with their readers. Specifically, it looks at the use of transition markers - the words that help shift from one idea to another in writing. The research involved 195 students who wrote essays in both their native language, Arabic, and a second language, English, making up 390 essays in total. To get a deeper insight, 41 of these students were interviewed to learn how they think about using these transition markers. The main finding was that students are quite good at using transition markers to link their ideas together, but they do not really understand how these words can also help manage the relatiomship with the reader. The study suggests that if students were taught more about this, they could become even better at writing in a way that engages their readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hoarding disorder (HD) is marked by difficulty discarding possessions. Many refuse treatment or drop out, which may be due to treatment's incorporation of in-home decluttering, which is feared and avoided. Thus, strategies to prepare patients for decluttering/discarding are needed. Imaginal exposure (IE), or imagining one's worst fears about discarding, could be one such strategy. This pilot preliminarily tested a short-duration IE intervention compared with a control intervention. Over 3 days, adults diagnosed with HD (n = 32) were randomly assigned to either write about and imagine their worst fears about discarding (IE condition) or a neutral topic (control writing [CW] condition). The IE condition showed significant improvements in HD symptoms from preintervention to 1-week follow-up, with medium to large effects; however, the CW condition did as well. Comparing change scores between conditions, the IE condition's improvements were not significantly different than the CW condition's. Overall, IE was helpful in improving HD symptoms, but this pilot did not indicate that it was more helpful than CW. This raises important questions about possible demand characteristics, placebo effects, or regression to the mean, and it has implications for the design and methodology of other studies assessing IE's utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A team of literacy, science, and theatre educators have been working to engage children in an urban public school system in the United States through embodied performances, where students embody and dramatise science ideas. This study focuses on one fourth‐grade classroom when instruction was done remotely due to Covid‐19. Children in the class were asked to compose videos of themselves acting out and/or exploring science phenomena and concepts, and we analysed the affordances of these multimodal compositions. We situate the need for this study in claims from the Next Generation Science Standards that literacy skills are necessary to build and communicate science knowledge. In doing so, we center social semiotics perspectives that conceive of composition broadly as production‐oriented processes drawing from various semiotic resources. The multimodal compositions in Mr. M's science class included both primarily embodied compositions and primarily digital compositions, and we elaborate on one focal example of each in the findings. Intertwined affordances of the focal children and their classmates' multimodal science compositions include opportunities to creatively engage with and negotiate science ideas, to draw from personal and social knowledge during meaning‐making, and to intentionally make rhetorical choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stroke profoundly affects quality of life (QOL), including loss of employment, reduced social activity, shrinking social networks and low mood. Dysgraphia (impaired writing) is a common symptom of aphasia yet is rarely targeted in rehabilitation. Recent technological advances might challenge this, since much communication is now conducted digitally through writing. The rehabilitation of writing may therefore help to address the wider consequences of stroke and aphasia. Aims: Can assistive technology (AT) training for people with dysgraphia: (1) improve written output, and are gains achieved only with AT? (2) improve reading comprehension scores, and are gains achieved only with AT? and (3) affect social participation, mood or QOL Methods and Procedures: Design A mixed‐methods, repeated measures, small group study design was adopted (qualitative outcomes will be reported elsewhere). Participants: Recruited from community settings, for example, Stroke Association communication support groups. Inclusion criteria: over 18 years old, aphasia due to stroke, acquired dysgraphia, writing more impaired than speech, fluent English prior to stroke, access to computer and Internet. Exclusion criteria: currently receiving speech and language therapy, significant cognitive impairment, neuromuscular/motor‐speech impairments/structural abnormalities, developmental dyslexia, uncorrected visual/auditory impairments. Procedures: Screening and diagnostic assessments at time T1 (first baseline). Outcome measures at T1; repeated at T2 (second baseline), T3 (end of intervention), T4 (3‐month follow up). Social participation assessment and cognitive monitoring at T2, T3, T4. Intervention: Seven–ten hours individual therapy weekly and additional email support. Participants were trained to operate Dragon NaturallySpeaking (speech to text package) and ClaroRead (read writing aloud). Outcome measures were administered on pen and paper (control) and on computer, with AT enabled only at T3, T4. Outcomes and Results: Computer narrative writing was significantly improved by AT training (Friedman's χ2 (3) = 8.27, p = 0.041), indicating a compensatory effect of AT. Though reading comprehension significantly improved in the computer condition (Friedman's χ2 (3) = 21.07, p = 0.001), gains could not be attributed to the AT. Gains were achieved only when measures were administered on the keyboard, with AT enabled. Thus, a compensatory rather than remediatory effect was suggested. Social network size significantly increased; there were no significant changes in mood/QOL. Individual success rates varied. Conclusion and Implications: The customisable AT training was acceptable to participants and resulted in significantly improved narrative writing. Compensatory AT interventions are a useful adjunct to remediatory writing interventions and may particularly support functional writing. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: Writing is rarely spared in aphasia and may present as the most impaired communication modality. Yet, people with aphasia report that writing is seldom included in their rehabilitation. Many communication activities are now conducted digitally through writing, therefore rehabilitation of this is more important than ever before. This study sought to address whether an assistive technology (AT) software package can improve writing and whether any changes were compensatory or remediatory. What this study adds to existing knowledge: This group study found that AT training led to gains in written discourse and social network in people with aphasia and dysgraphia. Gains were not replicated in handwritten tasks, suggesting this was a compensatory therapeutic approach. What are the clinical implications of this work?: AT programs such as this may present speech and language therapists with a practical, pragmatic adjunct to writing or typing therapy, particularly for clients with chronic, intractable impairments for whom remediatory therapy may have a low chance of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated the effectiveness of an intensive writing intervention focusing on mathematical reasoning through written expression. A group pretest–intervention–posttest comparison experimental design was used to implement a 12-lesson intervention, delivered through a combination of Google Classroom and in-person classroom teacher support, to fifth-grade students with specific learning disabilities (n = 19). Although underpowered, our results indicated the intensive writing intervention led to all students in the intervention group (n = 11) significantly outperforming the students in the control group (n = 8) on subtraction and division word problems requiring an explanation of their solution in written form. Additionally, student treatment interviews revealed the strategy was both enjoyable and helpful in solving and explaining their word problem solutions and the teacher provided insight into potential additional scaffolds to support the most intensive students. Lessons learned and implications for research and practice are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing in science can be challenging for all learners, and it is especially so for students with cognitive or language-based learning difficulties. We examined the effects of a cognitive apprenticeship on student disciplinary writing skills as well as near and far transfer of learning outcomes. This instructional approach included a gradual release of responsibility for learning through four, 3-day investigations that included authentic scientific experiments, small- and whole-group discussions, and the construction and revision of scientific arguments. Intervention students showed significant gains for both near (effect size = 1.08) and far (effect size = 0.76) transfer disciplinary writing outcomes. These results held true even when compared with a nonequivalent control group (effect size = 1.95). Students with disabilities demonstrated similar rates of growth as peers without disabilities, especially with respect to the quality of their claims and ability to provide scientific evidence. This study provides additional data on the value of cognitive apprenticeships in middle school science classrooms, and the results indicate the importance of discussion in helping students to think and write more like scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Op-ed writing can be a powerful and accessible advocacy tool for physicians, but training is lacking in undergraduate medical education. Aim: To train and engage first-year medical students in op-ed writing. Setting: Midwestern research-intensive medical school. Participants: All students in a required first-year health policy course in 2021 and 2022. Program Description: For their health policy course's final assignment, students could opt to write an op-ed on a healthcare issue of their choice. All students received written instruction on op-ed writing. Additionally, they could access a seminar, coaching and editing by peers and faculty, and publication guidance. Program Evaluation: Of 179 students over 2 years, 105 chose to write op-eds. Fifty-one attended the seminar, 35 attended peer coaching sessions, 33 accessed structured peer editing, and 23 received faculty assistance. Thirty-eight students submitted a total of 42 op-eds for publication. Twenty-two pieces were published in major outlets and 17 in the university's health policy review. Of the 22 in major outlets, 21 received editing from either peers or faculty. Discussion: An op-ed writing curriculum can be integrated into an existing medical school health policy course, resulting in a high level of engagement and in published op-eds by medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting all students involved in a class can be a difficult task. Getting students excited about reading, writing, and learning can be an even more difficult task. Fortunately, using dialogues is an easy strategy that any teacher can implement in any grade in any subject area to get students up, moving, and actively engaged in the learning process. Dialogues are essentially two-person plays or skits that students act out in pairs. Each dialogue focuses on a specific topic and introduces key vocabulary terms and concepts in a way that students can understand, using day-to-day conversational language. In addition, all students love using dialogues because they appeal to various interests. The "science-y" students love the content, the lit/drama students love the format, and the class comics love the humor! AND they can be personalized and modified to meet the needs of specific students and educational goals and can be used with other strategies such as exit slips, labs, content review, and more. In short, dialogues are an easy way to create an inclusive classroom where every student is engaged and successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading and writing are often taught separately. This article explores the crucial relations between these skills, emphasizing the importance of understanding the "what" and "why" to effectively plan the "how" of integrated reading–writing instruction. The Interactive Dynamic Literacy Model (Kim, Reading‐writing connections: Towards integrative literacy science. Springer; Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2022, 55, 447), supported by empirical evidence, illustrates how reading and writing skills are interwoven, forming hierarchical, interactive, and dynamic relations, and advocates for integrated teaching to enhance the development of both skills. Understanding these relations is essential for educators to design comprehensive and effective literacy instruction that supports the development of both foundational and higher‐order reading and writing skills. We propose three principles for effective integrated reading‐writing instruction: (a) leveraging assessment data in reading and writing to inform effective integrated instruction; (b) ensuring the development of lower‐order skills while also supporting the development of higher‐order skills; and (c) making reading‐writing connections visible. Illustrative examples are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good communication makes it easier for us to connect with the community and other individuals with various backgrounds. Language is also a catalyst for us to understand ourselves and others, and is the key that opens the window of our world’s view. Every aspect on human life is very dependent on the proficiency of language skills. The goal of this paper was to see how the use of Instagram improved the students’ EFL writing ability. The method used to conduct this paper was Systematic Literature Review. There are 10 articles from various journals that are analyzed and synthetized to extract the data from. Based on the authors finding, the use of Instagram brought forth positive improvement on the students’ writing ability, as well as their motivation in language acquisition study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that women face unique challenges in higher education when it comes to research, writing, and getting published. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified these challenges as both domestic and professional obligations increased for many women in academia. The goal of this autoethnographic study was to investigate the factors that supported or constrained four women faculty's research writing during a pandemic in the context of a small Christian teaching university. We collected data for a year via long-term and weekly goal setting surveys, weekly reflections, and semester reflections, which generated 170 comments on supporting and constraining factors, including 97 comments on constraining factors and 73 comments on supporting factors. Our data analysis identified themes that emerged from these comments, revealing seven main factors that constrain women's writing (i.e., family needs, mental and physical health, service and administrative work, teaching responsibilities, lack of research-related resources, non-research writing, and individual factors) and 10 main factors that supported women's writing (i.e., peer accountability and support, deadlines, scheduling a regular time and place for research, setting concrete research goals, having uninterrupted research time, prioritizing mental and physical health, family and personal support, participating in the writing retreat, research resources, and other individual factors). The findings of this research project shed light on the understudied populations of Christian women scholars and their writing practices and offer implications for Christian higher educational leaders and faculty on how to support women's research productivity in a post-pandemic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interprets and analyses the concept of stealing away, as a redemptive act, that can be embodied in alternative modes such as writing, painting and drawing. The paper articulates how the pained body – which in this case is understood as the black body – emerges in an oppressive environment. This paper considers prison letters and artwork as redefinition, redress, and reconfiguration of the pained body. The core of this discussion is founded on how Fatima Meer steals away through her writing and artwork while she is imprisoned. These actions constitute self-affirmation over oppression which essentially exemplifies how Saidiya Hartman expresses stealing away as a concept. It is through acts of stealing away that Meer experiences embodied writing, which is about bringing the finely textured experiences of the body to the art of writing. In so doing the pained experiences of the body [Meer] are reclaimed from oppression through writing, drawing and painting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following text is a play co-written as a response to, and a remembrance of, the experiences during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on writing during lockdown that was meant to make sense of our own experiences as academic labourers and those gained from informal conversations with colleagues. Following the conventions and the sensibilities of theatre, the text demands and offers a (re-)embodiment of voices and affectivities that connected those bodies in a situation in which bodies were absent, yet highly present in their vulnerability. We thus invite the readers to treat the text primarily as a stageable drama rather than an academic paper given unusual form. An introduction that belongs to a more classical academic genre expresses our inspirations and relevant points of reference. A short prose coda hints towards some of the insights we have gained by crafting the play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies on technology-mediated task-based learning have shown the impact of task design and modality on English as a foreign language (EFL) learning. However, it is unclear what effect technology-mediated tasks have on learners' English language skills. This paper presents a classroom-based study that showed how using technology-mediated tasks impacted students' learning experiences and fostered the development of specific speaking and writing subskills in an EFL secondary education context. Forty-two EFL intermediate learners completed two speaking and two writing tasks from the Cambridge B2 First exam using mobile devices. The participants were divided into a pen-and-paper group (N = 21) and an iPad group (N = 21). Learning outcomes were measured using a pre-test/post-test design with a statistical comparison of ratings across tasks. A qualitative content analysis of lesson observations and student and teacher interviews served as an additional dataset to shed light on learners' experiences. Descriptive statistics revealed that the iPad group achieved higher scores in pronunciation and accuracy (speaking) and essay organisation features (writing). Tasks involving the active use of the tool for content creation, rehearsing speaking performances, and accessing authentic materials were the most successful among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to some ḥadīths, the art of writing Arabic in the pre-Islamic Hijaz was learned from the city of al-Ḥīra (the capital of the Lakhmid kingdom) in southern Iraq, whilst al-Ḥīra in turn learned writing from the city of al-Anbār in central Iraq. Based on a combined isnād - cum - matn analysis, form-critical analysis, and geographical analysis of these ḥadīths, the earliest iteration of this material can be dated back to the middle of the eighth century ce (i.e. the early second century ah) in Kufa, but no earlier. A further historical-critical analysis also exposes the broader cultural and ideological tendencies at play behind the creation and elaboration of this material, including salvation history, a 'great man' theory of history, and—above all—the creation and elaboration of an Iraq-focused Arabian folk history in eighth-century ce Iraq. This small set of reports thus exemplifies the rich potential of ḥadīth in general as both a tool and an object of historical analysis: by applying my combined approach to ḥadīth, we can trace the creation, transmission, and elaboration of the material; we can locate its geographical origins; and we can identify the broader context that ultimately produced it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Braille use has been linked to higher rates of employment, education, financial self-sufficiency, and self-esteem. One area of the world particularly impacted by braille illiteracy is the Philippines. In 2016, Digital Learning for Development and All Children Reading released a "Grand Challenge for Development" that challenged researchers to address the need for assistive technologies to help children with sensory disabilities learn to read in the Philippines. The purpose of this research was to identify technical specifications, and then co-design and test a device that could be used both in developed and developing countries, specifically Canada and the Philippines. An iterative, co-design process was undertaken to develop a prototypical device, BrailleBunny. The extent to which the device fulfilled the design criteria and directions for future development were determined through a series of case studies with 25 end-users. The prototypical device requires improvement in financial accessibility, durability and reliability. All other criteria were met. Despite identified areas for improvement, the user feedback was positive, with the majority of users identifying that this device could provide transferrable learning to standard-size braille. With improvements, BrailleBunny, could be a valuable tool to increase the uptake of learning braille in the Philippines. An inexpensive device, BrailleBunny was developed to promote transferable braille literacy skills including writing with a slate and stylus for children learning to read. The BrailleBunny provides real-time auditory and tactile feedback, and functions in either English or Tagalog (the languages which are taught in the Filipino curriculum). Feedback from 25 children and adults indicated the potential for use within schools in both Canada and the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivational research identifies utility value, or the importance of a learning task to future goals, as central to motivation to learn. This study analyzed survey data (N = 86) collected from adult literacy learners to examine their utility value of writing improvement in grammar and spelling skills, word processing skills, and planning, drafting, and revising skills. Findings revealed that participants had a high utility value of improving writing in all three skill areas and possessed a variety of underlying motivations, including obtaining further education, seeking future employment, and personal reasons. Participants' age, educational attainment, and reading levels showed relationships with utility value of improving grammar and spelling skills, and age showed an additional relationship to utility value of improving word processing skills. This work extends research on motivation in this population and supports the application of expectancy‐value theory to both adult motivation and writing motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes using the Qualitative Pathway Project Mapping Tool (QL-PPMT) to guide the development of rigorous qualitative research proposals. The original PPMT was initially developed to assist nursing students in planning their quantitative research proposals and has been widely used by faculty to advise student research projects. In this paper, we have adapted the 26 sections of the PPMT to provide a comprehensive checklist and road map for qualitative proposal planning. Further, we describe each section of the QL-PPMT in detail with examples and suggest additional resources to guide the development of evidence-based qualitative research proposals for new investigators, students, and trainees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to determine the effect of the Time Token learning model on the ability to write poetry texts in class X of SMA Swasta Al Washliyah Pasar Senen for the 2023/2024 academic year. The population and sample in this study were all students of class X IPA IPS, totaling 24 students with the Time Token model. This research uses a one group pretest-posttest design experimental method using a quantitative approach. The instruments used in this research are the building blocks of writing poetry texts which consist of diction, theme, rhyme/rhythm, figurative language (figure of speech), and message. The data analysis techniques used are analysis requirements tests, normality tests, and hypothesis tests. The research results before using the Time Token model were 62.8 and classified as sufficient. Meanwhile, the research results after using the Time Token model were 73 and classified as good. Based on the results of the hypothesis test, it was found that tcount > ttable, namely 0.0107 > 0.337, so the hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. This proves that there is a significant influence of using the Time Token model on the ability to write poetry in class X SMA Swasta Al Washliyah Pasar Senen Tahun Ajaran 2023/2024 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the outcomes of a faculty partnership between a math professor and a composition professor to improve the final paper in a research-focused senior capstone math course. Much attention has been paid in recent years to the importance of undergraduate research experiences and how to best create and support such endeavors. However, little space has been dedicated to helping math faculty design and scaffold writing assignments to support their students' development as scholars. We describe how our partnership took place, the changes we made to existing assignments and the creation of new ones, and an assessment of our efforts completed by an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students, which showed marked improvement in the areas of information literacy, critical thinking, and quality of writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of public reading and the mandate of obedience to a written document are the backbone of most scriptural ideologies. Some texts of the Deuteronomistic History and the Prophets display a consciousness that the written words of their texts have acquired the status of Scripture and are, therefore, to be read publicly with a mandate to obey them. Inner-biblical evidence suggests that scribes sought to project this idea through connections established between texts of the Deuteronomistic History and the prophetic books. The fulcrum of this entire system is Deuteronomy 31, which clearly underlines the transformation of Mosaic laws from spoken commands to written law. Moreover, by emphasizing the writtenness of the law, Deuteronomy 31 ensures its permanence and the possibility of its being transferred to a new custodian, Joshua, who succeeds Moses after the latter's death. The motif of a book as a witness to rebellion in Deuteronomy 31 is an Isaian motif adopted to express the relationship between divine judgment and the disregard for the law in Deuteronomy 31. This Deuteronomic chapter is also connected to Jeremiah 36, which mimics the former by presenting Jeremiah's prophecy as a complete book meant for public reading. The scheme of Jeremiah 36 is again fully understood in the prophetic role of Huldah as an interpreter of the book of the law. The connections underscore the traditional conception of Scripture as the Law and the Prophets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Brief Report, we describe an evaluation of and revisions to a rubric adapted from the Jacobs et al.'s (1981) ESL COMPOSITION PROFILE, with four rubric categories and 20-point rating scales, in the context of an intensive English program writing placement test. Analysis of 4 years of rating data (2016–2021, including 434 essays) using many-facet Rasch measurement demonstrated that the 20-point rating scales of the Jacobs et al. rubric functioned poorly due to (a) questionably small distinctions in writing quality between successive score categories and (b) the presence of several disordered categories. We reanalyzed the score data after collapsing the 20-point scales into 4-point scales to simulate a revision to the rubric. This reanalysis appeared promising, with well-ordered and distinct score categories, and only a trivial decrease in person separation reliability. After implementing this revision to the rubric, we examined data from recent administrations (2022–2023, including 93 essays) to evaluate scale functioning. As in the simulation, scale categories were well-ordered and distinct in operational rating. Moreover, no raters demonstrated exceedingly poor fit using the revised rubric. Findings hold implications for other programs adopting/adapting the PROFILE or a similar rubric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]