Beyond Writing Next:

Drawing on their experiences as high school writing instructors, researchers, and teacher trainers, David Coker and William Lewis examine an often overlooked dimension of adolescent literacy: writing proficiency. The authors explore recent research on the skills and strategies students need in order to write with competence and describe analyses of interventions that help students attain writing mastery. They also address divisions and gaps in the field of writing research and instruction and offer suggestions for overcoming these rifts in order to advance understanding of adolescent writing development and effective writing instruction.

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David Coker is an assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in writing, reading, and language development. Coker’s research focuses on several topics, including writing development, writing assessment, writing instruction, and the connection between reading and writing. His interest in literacy development grew out of his experiences teaching English in an alternative high school in Atlanta and his work with elementary and middle school students in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

William E. Lewis is an instructor in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in reading and writing in the content areas, young adult literature, and instructional models. Lewis’s research focuses on persuasive writing and argument, including research into how older students read, respond to, and write critically about literary texts. Lewis previously taught En­glish for twenty years in Pennsylvania public schools, which nurtured his interest in adolescent writing development and instruction.