Abstract:
At the present time the high school English class student-teacher ratio is too high to give the teacher time to mark, evaluate, and grade compositions effectively; therefore, much assigned writing is little more than busywork. One must continually experiment to provide useful writing experiences. After surveying and reading what is happening in the English classroom in the 1960's and 1970's, one finds that now methods of teaching and evaluating composition are being tried.The main idea of this research was to share one such encounter in which the writer initiated a theme exchange with a composition instructor at Ball State University which was carried out for two years between their respective students. Becoming comp-pals high school volunteers at South Ripley High School, Versailles, Indiana and freshmen composition students marked and evaluated their exchanges. This experience provided enjoyable writing as well as beneficial writing. Although the results of the experiment show affective rather than tangible gains, the positive effects on student attitude were seen in changed classroom interest.Finally, individualized instruction and peer evaluation are the most used alternatives for teaching composition. Peer evaluation whether it is one to one, group, or peers at the university level gives the teacher time to guide the process of writing and allows the student immediate feedback. Thus writing as busywork becomes writing with meaning.