A Comparison of Analytic and Synthetic Approaches to the Teaching of College Writing.

ABSTRACT This report' provides information `drawn from a study that compared two components of the freshman English program at the University of Texas at Austin. The first chapter of the report contains background material and describes the two course, componentsthe analytic option, which emphasizes writing skills in the context of complete pieces of writing, and the synthetic option, which works from individual discourse parts to paragraphs to complete ''essays.'The second chapter discus-6es the research design and procedures,, while the third chapter analyzes some features-of high and Low quality student essays. Chapters four and five offer comparisons of essays written by students in the analytic option with those written by students in the synthetic option. Chapter six discusses the influenCe of writing apprehension on student performance in freshman composition, and chapter seven outlines the predictors of writing quality and course grades. The final chapter. places the study in the larger context of writing research conddcted at other universities and presents a summary of the study's findings, its limitations, and its implications for teaching and research.

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