With What Frequency Are Teachers Employing Evidenced-Based Procedures in Their Writing Classrooms?
by Soiferman, L. Karen; Boyd, Karen; Straw, Stanley B.
Background: The need for improvement in writing instruction in schools is dependent on teachers being aware of evidence-based procedures in writing and implementing them on a regular basis in their classrooms. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the frequency with which teachers in Western Canada employed evidence-based procedures in writing instruction in the classes. The data were gathered on the eleven elements identified by Graham and Perin (2007) in their meta-analysis of the most effective procedures for teaching writing.
Setting: Writing classrooms in Western Canada. Study Sample: Seventy-five teachers randomly selected participated in the study. Intervention: none. Research Design: Statistical Survey. Control or Comparison Condition: none. Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected on the frequency with which teachers employed the eleven effective elements identified by Graham & Perin (2007).
They were: Direct Strategy Instruction, Summarization Instruction, Collaborative Writing, Setting Specific Product Goals, Word Processing, Sentence Combining, Engaging in Pre-Writing Activities, Engaging in Inquiry Activities, Process Writing, the Study of Models, and Writing for Content Area Learning. Two other elements, Formal Grammar Instruction, and the Use of Writing Rubrics were also investigated.
Findings: We found that approximately a quarter of the teachers surveyed employed the most powerful elements for teaching writing on a regular basis. The notable exceptions were in collaborative writing, teaching summarizing, and sentence combining which a small number of teachers utilized. Between and third and a half of the responses for the eleven elements were in the “seldom” or “never” categories.
Conclusion: This study makes no claims to why some teachers employ evidence-based techniques in teaching writing and why others do not. It is clear, however, that the percentage of classroom teachers who need to employ, regularly, evidence-based techniques need to be increased, at least in Western Canada. A concerted effort on the part of provincial ministries of education and teacher education institutions may be needed to keep teachers better informed on what strategies are most effective in teaching writing and how to implement those in their classes. Citation: Soiferman, L.K., Boyd, K., & Straw, S. B. (2010, Janaury 7). With What Frequency Are Teachers Employing Evidenced-Based Procedures in their Writing Classrooms? A paper presented at the 8th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Hawaii. (Contains 3 notes.)
Download the ‘With What Frequency Are Teachers Employing Evidenced-Based Procedures in Their Writing Classrooms?’ research paper by visiting http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal