http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
effects of facilitative teacher response and revision strategies on adolescent writing achievement
Composing is often a solitary activity with the outcome in some future time and place. Because it is an internal and often solitary process, we still have much to learn about the development of written language. According to Piaget and others, most adolescents have reached the point of becoming independent agents in their cognitive development; however, national reports and other research findings show poor results in adolescents* abilities to express themselves effectively in writing. Findings suggest that it is often during this critical period that the least developmental work in writing occurs and that writing evaluation and feedback to students are frequently counterproductive. This study explores the effects of strategies that current theory in developmental psychology, composing, and creativity propose to be effective with students of this age group. These strategies include active involvement in learning, facilitative and directive feedback, and a gradual shift of responsibility for learning and performance to learners themselves. In this study, such strategies were implemented in regular classroom settings by three language arts teachers with 160 sixth grade also explores the likelihood that when students gain in one of these outcome variables they also gain in the others and, further, that students' first language relates in some way to the reported outcomes. For this study, strategies were implemented through a writing program in regular classroom settings by three language arts teachers with 160 sixth grade students. The program was implemented over a seven-month period. Sixty-five percent of the study population was characterized as low SES, and approximately 60% was non-Englishspeaking. The outcomes of the three key variables were measured using a series of five writing events as well as tests of writing apprehension and verbal creativity. The data were analyzed by examining students' gains on these measures. Teachers and classes were compared for possible replication of the outcomes of the writing program. Findings suggest that, when the writing program strategies were implemented, students showed gains in the variables of interest - writing achievement, attitude toward writing, and verbal creativity - and that, as a group, the non-English-speaking students made greater gains on these three criteria than did their English-speaking classmates.
"Major subject: Educational Psychology."