Reprint of the original, first published in 1841.

Teachers regularly seek to update their practice with newly-developed tools from the realm of research, with the aim of applying them directly in the classroom, particularly for teaching reading and writing. Thus, teachers’ continuing education is dependent on the effective dissemination and appropriation of research results. This book explores this problem from multiple angles, presenting research projects from France and Quebec, Canada. Using a variety of methods, including creating teaching materials and engaging classroom teachers in the research process, the authors demonstrate the importance of ownership and dissemination of research results in schools. Although this necessity sometimes complicates the work of researchers, it is vital to develop and maintain the relationship between reading–writing research and its practical applications.

The study of students’ motivational beliefs about writing and how such beliefs influence writing has increased since the publication of John Hays’ 1996 model of writing. This model emphasized that writers’ motivational beliefs influence how and what they write. Likewise, increased attention has been devoted in recent years to how teachers’ motivational beliefs about writing, especially their efficacy to teach writing, impact how writing is taught and how students’ progress as writers. As a result, there is a need to bring together, in a Research Topic, studies that examine the role and influence of writing beliefs. Historically, the psychological study of writing has focused on what students’ write or the processes they apply when writing. Equally important, but investigated less often, are studies examining how writing is taught and how teachers’ efforts contribute to students’ writing. What has been less prominent in the psychological study of writing are the underlying motivational beliefs that drive (or inhibit) students’ writing or serve as catalysts for teachers’ actions in the classroom when teaching writing. This Research Topic will bring together studies that examine both students’ and teachers’ motivational beliefs about teaching writing. This will include studies examining the operation of such beliefs, how they develop, cognitive and affective correlates, how writing motivational beliefs can be fostered, and how they are related to students’ writing achievement. By focusing on both students’ and teachers’ beliefs, the Research Topic will provide a more nuanced and broader picture of the role of motivation beliefs in writing and writing instruction. This Research Topic includes papers that address students’ motivational beliefs about writing, teachers’ motivational beliefs about writing or teaching writing. Students’ motivational beliefs about writing include: • beliefs about the value and utility of writing, • writing competence, • attitudes toward writing, • goal orientation, • motives for writing, • identity, • epistemological underpinnings writing, • and attributions for success/failure (as examples). Teacher motivational include these same judgements as well as beliefs about their preparation and their students’ competence and progress as writers (to provide additional examples). This Research Topic is interested in papers that examine how such beliefs operate, develop, are related to other cognitive and affective variables, how they are impacted by instruction, and how they are related to students’ writing performance. Submitted studies can include original research (both quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods), meta-analysis, and reviews of the literature.

This book is designed to provide elementary school teachers with information, suggestions, and models for using writing in the social studies, from early primary to middle grades. There are four major chapters to the book. Chapter I is titled "Research on the Teaching of Writing." The articles in this first section move from a survey of research in writing to a survey of classroom practice in the use of writing in elementary school social studies and finally to a specific classroom study that integrates the two areas and presents specific implications for the study and teaching of writing. Chapter II is titled "Developing Readiness in Writing." The first two articles stress two important aspects of a classroom environment that nurtures and supports student writing. The remaining five articles describe techniques such as interviewing, exploring the past, and brainstorming that teachers can use to initiate writing. The title of Chapter III which contains seven articles is "Using Writing to Learn Social Studies Content." The articles describe ways in which writing can be used to help students learn social studies information or develop social studies generalizations. Another describes how writing can be used to conduct simulated field trips in the social studies classroom. The title of Chapter IV is "Combining Writing with Social Studies." Discussed are three essential supports for a successful program: a detailed curriculum guide, inservice teacher training, and cooperative teacher/administrator assessment procedures. The book also cites related resources in the ERIC system. (Author/RM)

This book shows how teaching writing to young children can transform them into academic students that are self-aware of their own identity and expression, while being conscious of their surrounding group cultures by employing narrative as a writing process.