supporting scholarly exchange about communication across the curriculum
Content Area:
Communication Across the Curriculum
Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum
Writing to Learn vs. Writing in the Disciplines
Discipline:
Welcome to the WAC Clearinghouse Theses and Dissertations Page. The theses are displayed below. If you'd like us to add a new thesis or dissertation to our list, please contact Kevin Eric De Pew.
This qualitative inquiry explored the writing experiences of mid level undergraduate education students, who wrote eight required assignments during a sixteen-week education course. An eclectic research framework was designed to explore students' experiences. This design was based primarily on Elliot Eisner's model of the researcher as Educational Connoisseur and Critic. The design also drew from phenomenological methods to refine access, analysis and interpretation of students' writing experiences. These methods included heuristic interviews and hermeneutic readings of student written log entries through which they described what they experienced when they wrote each required assignment.
Analysis of students' descriptions partially revealed many complex and dynamic qualitative features or qualities of students' writing experiences. These qualities formed the content of ten categories, which were further combined into five organizational themes. These themes were illuminated through detailed narrative descriptions supported by students' own words. Description and analysis also revealed two meta-themes, which illustrated the autobiographical characteristic and highly interactive and constructive nature of students' writing experiences.
Explanation of the meaning of students' experiences was best achieved through the socio-historical perspective of Vygotsky in relation to students' conscious awareness of inner speech and the use of language as a tool to assist learning. Also, the Vygotskian Theory of scientific versus spontaneous concept development provided a way of understanding students' frequent use of past experiences in their efforts to construct meaning and understanding of new concepts encountered in the course. Using Dewey's criteria, for judging the educational worth of students' academic experiences, found the writing activities worthwhile in contributing to students' intellectual growth and promoting their future engagements toward becoming new teachers.
This inquiry employed an Approach different from that used in past research in writing and explored students' lived experiences related to their writing activities. It used phenomenological methods and illustrated the many private qualitative features that could be evoked, through students' engagement in academic writing activities. These private features of students' writing experiences had important meanings to the students who participated in this inquiry and may have meaning as well to researchers who might continue to explore students' writing engagements in the future.
This classroom study focuses on middle school students' historical thinking and writing about history, after their having worked with artifacts chosen to represent a specific historical period. Although this research contributes to a growing body of literature on the historical thinking and learning of school age children, it represents a beginning inquiry into how middle school students' historical thinking and writing about history are assisted through use of objects.
A Texas history class at a middle school in Austin, Texas provided the data for the study. The researcher taught a lesson in which students examined artifacts, classified them according to their possible use, and determined their relationship to one of four cultures living in Texas in 1685. The artifact assemblages included objects reflective of each culture (i.e., food items, arrow points, metal buttons, shells, etc.).
During the time students worked in groups and conversed about the significance of the artifacts, audio-tape recorders at each work station recorded their conversation. The transcribed audio-tapes served as part of the data. Following this activity, students composed individual essays to reveal their group's decision about what culture the artifacts they examined most represented. Students' compositions provided additional data.
The researcher created a four point hierarchical protocol, based on Wineburg's studies (1991 a & b), with each level representing a more cognitively complex way of thinking about history. The protocol was used for the purpose of analyzing the transcribed and written data, to determine the cognitive complexity of students' thinking and writing about history. In order to determine reliability, two independent readers coded the data, following the same guidelines used by the teacher/researcher. The obtained reliability was high.
The major finding of the study held that students' historical thinking and learning of a period in history were enhanced through their working with artifacts. Students' learning engaged their multiple senses. This finding supports the use of original sources and artifacts in the teaching of history as a means by which students might think and learn about history in a cognitively complex manner.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of journal writing on the attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and on the mathematics achievement of college students enrolled in an applications-based college mathematics course. The attitudes, beliefs and achievement of journal writing subjects were compared to those of non-journal writing subjects, and relationships between quality of writing and achievement in the course were investigated.
Data from a Beliefs Survey were used to investigate changes in attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and the learning of mathematics, and results from a common final examination were used to compare subjects' achievement in the course. Performance on journal writing tasks which required subjects to document solution steps, summarize concepts, skills, and strategies under study and explain concepts to others were evaluated and those scores were related to achievement in the course.
This study showed that weekly structured journal writing in a college mathematics course is effective in enabling students to achieve greater success in learning mathematics. Students in the journal writing sections achieved significantly higher grades on the course final examination than did students in the non-journal writing section. Beliefs and attitudes about mathematics and the learning of mathematics improved significantly for students in the journal writing sections, but not for those in the non-journal writing section. Writing performances on the more complex writing tasks, explaining mathematical concepts and documenting solutions to multiple step problems, improved as students completed more writing assignments.
Achievement in the course was shown to be related to the quality of performance on complex writing tasks and to positive changes in attitude toward mathematics. Stepwise regression showed that change in attitude, and performance on the journal task of explaining concepts to others and documenting solution steps relate significantly to achievement in mathematics. It seems reasonable to conclude that incorporating structured complex writing assignments into course requirements will enable greater achievement in the learning of mathematics.
This thesis describes the process by which tour community college students came to write academics essays which were based on their personal experiences, and it analyzes how readers such as their peers and instructors responded to such texts. It is the author's claim that experience-based writing, which is Theoretically based on a critical pedagogy, has certain limitations in the academy.
The thesis begins with a statement of the problematic, the purpose of the research, the researcher's understanding about a critical Approach to learning, and her own Theory of composition. A Theoretical framework for Theory and practice is discussed. After setting composition Theory within this critical context and articulating the qualitative methodology used, the thesis analyzes the themes which emerged from the interviews of four community college students. The interviews resulted in the following three themes: a description of the participants' complex psychological and social motives for writing about personal themes, an analysis of how their texts were read by their peer-readers, and an analysis of how their texts were read by various instructors.
The thesis is grounded on the assumption that writing is both a social and psychological activity. The various kinds of knowledge that the participants, their readers, and their instructors create is context-specific, and meanings and interpretations vary from the sender to the receiver. Theoretically, colleges are not neutral sites of learning. As readers interpret a written text, it is possible that dominant themes and writing styles are reproduced.
The thesis concludes with a restatement of the major findings of this study. After evaluating the problems associated with experience-based writing in the academy, the thesis ends with recommendations for critical educators. This thesis describes possible ways for educators to create safe learning environments in which to encourage novice writers in the development of their voice. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Writing in physical education classes was investigated as a means of providing fifth graders with additional practice in writing. According to research, additional time spent writing in all content areas aids in the improvement of the quality of writing. This study involved 89 fifth grade subjects in four classes of a suburban school. Two classes wrote weekly at the conclusion of their physical education classes on predetermined topics that were relevant to the lesson. All classes wrote weekly in language arts classes on previously selected topics using various genre.
Data collected included inventories of interest in writing and physical education, quality of writing assessments using a six point rubric for both physical education and language arts topics, and the number of words written for each subject's writing. The ability of each subject was made available from IQ scores received on the CAT and from the written expression subtest scores. Scores of ability were correlated with the quality of writing assessments.
The results of this study indicate a high interest in physical education and a low interest in writing. The quality of writing in physical education classes was lower than the quality of writing in language arts class for all ability groups. Ability did not appear to be a factor when compared to quality of writing. Those who wrote in the physical education classes showed very little improvement in the quality of writing in language arts class. This study suggests that there is a need to investigate methods to improve the quality of student writing.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of journal writing on students in entry level college algebra. Current trends encourage writing Across the curriculum, and research indicates that writing in the mathematics classroom can benefit the participants by giving them the opportunity to articulate their ideas, improve analytical and problem solving skills, and improve their attitude toward mathematics. This study included twenty-one entry level college algebra students writing weekly in an out-of-class assignment. Analyses looked at the effects of writing on attitude and performance scores gathered before and after the treatment period. Gender, first language, and classroom format were considered in the analyses. The results of this study indicated that while writing did not significantly affect participant attitude, performance was improved by the addition of the writing assignment. No difference was found for groups based on gender, first language, or classroom format.
This study addresses questions and issues that lie at the heart of the writing Across the curriculum movement, primarily whether writing enhances learning and what mode of writing is most efficacious. In a project where all participants were asked to read a short story and then answer a series of questions about it, the responses of 462 community college freshman composition students who were randomly divided into three groups were examined. In two of the groups, students wrote about their reading before proceeding to the short answer sections. One group responded to a prompt designed to generate self-directed writing, the other to a prompt asking them to produce teacher-directed prose. The groups were compared with regard to how students approached the work of fiction read, their ability to comprehend and interpret the story, and their appreciation of it. for those who wrote in response to the reading, additional comparisons were made, particularly with respect to the kinds of discourse statements in the written texts, the fluency of the texts, and the relative convergence or divergence of the written responses. The central finding of this study is that no statistically significant between-groups differences were observed in either approaches to the text or performance indicators; however, several subsidiary trends were apparent. The type of story assigned as well as its relative level of complexity were factors that influenced students' responses. Certain sub-groups such as English as a Second Language (ESL) students and students who had taken remedial reading and/or writing classes also demonstrated some specific performance differentials.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine and describe complex academic tasks undertaken by adolescents and the classroom conditions supporting them. The setting for this study was one southwestern university's Summer Institute for Writing and Thinking Across the Curriculum. With students and teachers working in collaboration, the Institute intended to provide high school students with opportunities to utilize the writing process as a tool for thinking and as a means to increase their writing proficiency. Teaching writing in classroom settings has been found to be particularly challenging, and further, sometimes the complexity of writing tasks have been sacrificed for the sake of maintaining classroom order. The Institute seemed a likely environment for engaging in complex cognitive processing and thus for examining complex tasks and noting the conditions that supported them. Participant observation and interviews were the data collection methods employed. Results of the study indicated that students engaged in complex cognitive processing, gained more control over their writing and thinking processes, and produced a variety of complex individual and group products. The Institute assessment, consisting of writing samples obtained on the first and last days of the three-week Institute, demonstrated growth in writing proficiency for 74% of the students. The features that supported the successful accomplishment of complex academic work included (a) well-designed, open-ended assignments that were scaffolded within and Across tasks, (b) collaboration of students and teachers in small writing groups, (c) establishment and nurturance of writing communities, (d) the sharing of leadership, (e) availability of multiple resources, (f) instructional strategies that protected a non-threatening, non-judgmental environment, and (g) instructional strategies that fostered complex thinking and problem solving. The writing community played a key role in fostering complex cognitive processing, maintaining order, and connecting students to their academic work.
The argument of this study is that trainers responsible for teaching two-year college instructors the principles and methods of writing-to-learn activities must take into account the ideas and beliefs that participating instructors hold, at the outset, regarding teaching and learning. Failure to identify these ideas and beliefs, and to have the participating instructors examine them, will yield uneven results, with many of the trained instructors not adopting the lessons they have learned. for this study, sixteen community college instructors, of two two-year colleges, were interviewed regarding their ideas and beliefs about teaching and learning, about their attitudes about writing Across the curriculum training they had received, and about how the training has affected their teaching practices. Interviews were also conducted of these instructors' writing Across the curriculum trainers, regarding their own beliefs about teaching and learning, and their goals as trainers. The data gathered from these interviews is analyzed with the Swanson-Owens locus of attention framework, by which an instructor's primary instructional concerns can be located on a grid controlled by four factors that shape classroom instruction--teacher, student, knowledge, and materials/activities. After identifying each instructor's and trainer's locus of attention, this study focuses on the correlations between the six loci of attention and the extent to which the instructors adopted the lessons of their training. This study concludes with recommendations for writing Across the curriculum trainers.
Writing-to-learn and speaking-to-learn activities were used to aid learning in an undergraduate reading methods class. The study asked: (1) What were the students' perceptions of the value of the writing and speaking activities in which they participated? (2) What thinking and learning processes were elicited by the writing and speaking activities? Qualitative research methods were used, drawing upon three sources of information: measures of students' perceptions, including a survey and group discussions; students' written work and transcripts of their performances on speaking activities; and the teacher-researcher's observation journal. Students perceived writing- and speaking-to-learn activities as beneficial to their learning; however much of their work showed a lack of engagement with the material. Engagement was defined as the amount of mental processing, involving understanding new concepts, making new connections and associations with what is already known, and using one's own language to construct and organize these new understandings. Many students were found to have a view of education as the transmission of information, which may have been a cause of the lack of engagement noted by the study. The study suggested that the concept of engagement may be of use in evaluating learning activities, and that writing- and speaking-to-learn activities may help students come to understand learning as a constructive process.
The purpose of this developmental dissertation was to create an undergraduate, college-level course in teaching problem-solving through writing, to provide mathematics pre-service secondary school teachers with the knowledge and strategies that will better prepare them to respond appropriately to the challenges of the contemporary mathematics classroom at the high school level. Mathematics education in the United States is weak in preparing teachers to teach problem-solving. Consequently students in the United States are behind in problem-solving when compared with students in other countries. Writing is a viable method for teaching the mathematical skill of problem-solving. Using writing to teach other subjects is called "Writing to Learn." Writing to Learn sets the stage for "Language Across the Curriculum" as a source of innovative techniques in teaching mathematics in conjunction with other disciplines. Many teachers are aware of writing as a catalyst for learning: however they lack the staff development training needed to successfully implement the process at the high school level. Teacher training is necessary for the implementation of Writing to Learn in the mathematics classroom. An undergraduate-level course in problem-solving through writing was developed, which is responsive to the recommendations of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1991) Standards for Teaching Mathematics and the Mathematical Association of America's report (Leitzel, 1991) which includes recommendations for the mathematical preparation of teachers of mathematics. The goal of the course was to improve the teaching and learning of problem-solving in the mathematics classroom through the use of writing strategies. The lessons centered around method objectives and content objectives in behavioral form. The unique features of the course included: (1) the use of writing strategies such as collaborative learning, peer editing, presentations, projects, and journal writing to teach problem-solving in the mathematics classroom; (2) field experiences to observe other teachers; and (3) the use of the writing process in problem-solving. There are no "sure" methodologies for teaching problem- solving. However, it is evident that the methods now being used are not working. Thus, fresh approaches to problem-solving such as the use of writing strategies which emphasize thinking through problems are welcomed changes in the teaching of problem-solving. The effectiveness of this course could revolutionize the way problem-solving is taught throughout the United States.
This dissertation investigates the effects a creative writing class, designed especially for nursing students, has on their critical writing and explores how this course fits into the curricular goals of nursing schools and other disciplines interested in writing Across the curriculum. To assess the effects of creative writing on critical writing, I examined the writing abilities of nursing students in nursing classes they took before the creative writing class; then I taught the creative writing course; finally, I evaluated the work of three nursing students from nursing classes they took after the creative writing class. The case studies revealed that creative writing improved the critical writing of the nursing students, and also served as a powerful awakening of empathy.
The purpose of this study was to collaboratively create curriculum, and was based on the following question: What can be learned about curriculum and curriculum development through the utilization of a curricular framework in which interrelated curricular engagements are used as assessment potentials for making Theoretically consistent curricular decisions about learners and learning? The curricular framework functioned as an organizational device to support learners in using reading, writing, and art as engagements to learn, and provide teachers with assessment potentials for making more informed and Theoretically consistent curricular decisions in the classroom. Curricular engagements included write-alongs, sketch to stretch, cloning an author, freewriting, and literature circles. Data collection and data analysis were grounded in qualitative research methodology, and driven by social constructivist and ethnographic perspectives. Human and non-human data sources were used. Human sources totaled 103 informants (10 teachers, 77 students, 15 parents, 1 Director). Non-human sources included historical artifacts and school brochures. Data collection procedures included fieldwork, participant interpretation, unstructured interview, journal writing, photography, audio-video taping, and anecdotal record keeping. Data was analyzed using the constant comparative method. Based on data analysis, this study offers a model of curriculum as inquiry that highlights four new relationships: (1) between curriculum and assessment in which both are conceptualized as potentials for inquiry, (2) between curriculum as inquiry and a cultural ecology of schooling in which the latter is conceptualized as a Theoretically consistent system of values Across five dimensions: intentional, structural, curricular, pedagogical, evaluative, (3) between curriculum as inquiry and a socio-historical context of schooling in which the latter is conceptualized as a system of values that reflect the most current curricular worlds of teachers and students, and (4) between curriculum as inquiry and underlying learning processes in which the latter are conceptualized as different ways of situated knowing. This model of curriculum as inquiry is then situated within a larger model of education that supports diversity and a Theory of learning that highlights difference. Implications are raised for using curriculum as inquiry as a potential for repositioning ourselves as teachers and learners.
The purpose of this paper is to explore what happens when cooperating teachers use dialogue journals with student teachers Across the disciplines. The study consists of three case studies with data gathered from questionnaires, interviews, and the actual dialogue journals. The disciplines of math, language arts, and special education are represented. Findings are based on Leslee Reed's journal effectiveness values in addition to the previously mentioned data. Dialogue journals may evolve independently within each discipline. Teacher research/teacher renewal and writing Across the curriculum are other issues discussed in this paper.
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe eight content area teachers' experiences and beliefs about ongoing in-service training in the uses of reading and writing Across the curriculum. Case studies of three participants provided useful insights into educational practice and offered understanding of the Content Reading Including Study Systems (CRISS) in-service and its meaning for the participants. Procedures. This descriptive study involved multiple data sources to explore the participants' experiences in the CRISS program. Questionnaires, interviews, audio tapes of in-service meetings, written responses, and field notes comprised the data. The data were analyzed in the following categories: (1) CRISS strategies used, (2) self-reported beliefs about literacy and cross-curricular instruction, (3) teachers' experiences in attempting to implement the CRISS program, and (4) participants' descriptions of their roles in the classroom, on the seventh-grade team. Findings. Twenty-one strategies were used by the eight participants. Teachers reported twelve benefits of using writing to learn in content classes. They stated their belief that new knowledge must be tied to prior knowledge, and that students must be an active part of the learning process. Promoting general literacy through sustained silent reading and reading and writing in content classes was voiced. Seven participants reported readiness for cross-curricular studies. The participants noted positive aspects of the in-service program and reported a heightened awareness of their own uses of reading and writing as they incorporated strategies in content areas. Conclusions. Ongoing support groups are essential to effective in-service education. As teachers implement these strategies in content classes, they face the problems of institutional barriers, time constraints, and age and personality factors. Given time, support and models, content teachers can develop positive attitudes toward reading/writing strategies and in-service education and affect student learning through mutually-supportive strategies. Teachers can examine personal learning as they implement strategies in their classes. Participants and facilitators benefit from writing at the end of in-service sessions.
An important topic in mathematics education research currently and in the recent past relates mathematics and communication. Identified as one of the National Council of Teachers' of Mathematics curriculum standards in 1989, communication in mathematics has been highlighted as an important goal for all students. The ability to communicate mathematically is seen as crucial in fostering the development of competent problem-solvers capable of inquiry and the conveyance of thoughts. These capabilities are seen as critical in today's world as well as in the future. The related areas of communication including reading, writing, speaking, and listening both Across the curriculum and in mathematics were reviewed. These seemingly discrete components were unified in a model of the role of communication in the mathematics learning process. This model was built upon the child as a communicative being at the core of the learning process that involves the communication of cognitive and affective elements through various channels to a communicative audience. A segment of the model was examined by investigating the relationship between increased communication through journal writing and sharing and mathematics achievement and attitude. The first part of the study included a pretest, instruction in standard cubic units, and a posttest in six fifth grade classrooms. Instruction in three experimental classes differed from that in control classes by being accompanied by journal writing and sharing. Two classes participated in the second part of the study that followed the same procedures for instruction in common fractions. An attitudinal measure was administered to students in all six classes. Five students from each of the six classes were interviewed. Major conclusions included: there was no significant difference between groups in achievement in standard cubic units; there was a significant difference between groups in achievement in common fractions for those students who had engaged in journal writing and sharing for a longer period of time; interview results pointed to meaningful differences between groups in affective variables connected to mathematics and communication.
Many educators agree that writing, used as an instructional strategy, can serve as a powerful learning process. It helps students integrate new ideas and experiences with older ones in any subject. Recently there has been increased interest in the use of writing for teaching and learning content in school subjects Across the curriculum. This study investigated the connections between writing and learning in middle school science. In particular the study focused on an investigation of the effectiveness of the use of expressive writing in the science content area both as an aid to student achievement and to the retention of learned information. The underlying premise of the study was that students would better understand content material and remember it longer if they wrote about what they were learning. Two groups of average ability eighth grade students constituted the subjects of the study. Both groups covered the same assignments and experienced the same instructional techniques during the study with one exception. The experimental group utilized expressive writing activities during the course of the instructional unit, while the control group experienced the more traditional instructional techniques devoid of expressive writing activities. Pretest and posttest scores were compared to determine the effectiveness of the expressive writing activities as a learning aid. A post-posttest was administered to determine the longer term effect of the independent variable on the retention of learned information by the students in the experimental group. During the study it became apparent that some of the students in the experimental group were beginning to use their writings to help them learn. Also, the differences between the posttest and the post-posttest means seemed to suggest that these students showed a somewhat greater retention of learned information. However, no statistically significant difference was found to exist between the two groups of students. The findings of this study show there is much to be learned about the significance of using writing as a learning enhancement. Implications for teaching and teacher training as well as recommendations for further research focusing on the collection of empirical data are included in the study.
To describe instructor's pedagogy of using writing and thinking in three discipline-specific classrooms (gunsmithing, nursing, and sociology) at the two-year college level is the purpose of this research project. Over a period of 4 months, from the start of Spring Semester 1992 to its completion, I maintained an ethnographic research stance in each of these 3 classes at a rural community college in northern Arizona. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the contexts of my research; Chapter 2 examines research during the last 30 years in writing and thinking, specifically WAC at the community-college level. In Chapter 3 I explain my methodology and design, which includes not only observations of instructors, but also student interviews and journals. In addition to triangulation, I incorporated questionnaires to check student and instructor responses in areas of writing and thinking activities, instructors' rationales and Theories and metacognitive awarenesses, and uses of writing and thinking in classrooms. All four instructors possess varying degrees of metacognition in their rationales; most of their writing assignments incorporate writing to show learning. Chapters 4 through 6 are case studies of four instructors in specific disciplines. Each chapter has five sections: instructor background and history, teaching philosophy and rationale, summary of my observations, my interpretations and commentary, and finally instructors' responses to my interpretation of their classroom practices. Chapter 7 and 8 are analyses and conclusions about the research data, and chapter 9 provides recommendations for administrators of two-year institutions, content-area instructors and composition instructors. Following the precedents of experimental ethnographic writers, such as Clifford Geertz, Mary Ann Pratt, Stephen Tyler, Wendy Bishop, Marcus and Cushman, I have written this text as a collage of points of view, attempting wherever possible to allow student and instructor voices to emerge. Instructors have the last words in their chapters. Although much writing and thinking Across the curriculum is occurring at Yavapai College in northern Arizona, which has no formal WAC program, I have many suggestions about ways to foster student thinking and writing. Finally, I conclude with suggestions about possible models for WAC at the two-year college.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of writing after reading on college nursing students' factual knowledge and synthesis of knowledge about selected legal issues in nursing. Additionally, the present study sought to determine: if an interaction occurred between time of test and type of writing on factual knowledge: if there were differences between texts: and, if an interaction occurred between text and type of writing on factual knowledge and synthesis of knowledge. College nursing students (N = 118) were randomly assigned to: a control group which read, reviewed and did no writing; a notetaking group; or, an essay writing group. Students worked with two texts with text order counterbalanced Across students. Ten-item multiple- choice tests of factual knowledge were administered to all subjects immediately after completing each reading and writing task and again seven days later. Also, at the delayed time, each student wrote a synthesis-of- knowledge essay for each of the two texts. Each subject had a total of six scores. for each text there was an immediate and a delayed factual knowledge score and a synthesis-of-knowledge score. The study used a three-group repeated measures analysis of variance design. There were two models. In one, the between-subjects variable was type of writing (no writing, notetaking, and essay writing); the within- subjects variables were time (immediate and delayed) and text (1 and 2); and the dependent variable was factual knowledge. In the second model, the between-subjects variable was the same; text (1 and 2) was a within- subjects variable; and the dependent variable was synthesis of knowledge. Results showed that notetaking after reading was better than essay writing or no writing for factual knowledge. There was no difference between essay writing and no writing for factual knowledge. On the other hand, essay writing helped students synthesize better than notetaking. However, there was no difference between essay writing and no writing on the synthesis-of- knowledge measure. Also, there was no difference in notetaking and no writing on synthesis of knowledge.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 46 independent variables associated with English/Language Arts curricular design upon writing achievement. This longitudinal study analyzed 775 high school students' writing samples, schoolwide essays and portfolios, collected over a three-year period. The data were submitted to stepwise multiple regression analyses. Results indicate that neither age, gender, nor ethnicity significantly affects writing achievement at high school level; socio-economic status affects the writing achievement of younger high school students more significantly than of older ones. Students' academic achievement, is a strong predictor of writing achievement. of the 46 independent variables, reading ability proved the strongest predictor of writing achievement. Though student mobility exerts moderate influence upon writing achievement, student attendance in English/Language Arts class does not. The effect of class size upon writing performance is negligible. Student attitudes toward writing are a fairly strong predictor of writing achievement; however, attitudes toward high school do not appear to influence writing performance. Teacher effect influences writing achievement more significantly when performance is measured by portfolio assessment. English/Language Arts curricular program design influences writing achievement more strongly when measured by schoolwide essays than by portfolio assessments. Implications for the teaching of writing include teaching reading in the high school English classroom, creating more opportunities for writing Across the curriculum, implementing consistent and educationally sound procedures for the review and revision of curricular program design, and improving student attitudes toward writing. Implications for future research include studying English/Language Arts programs, empirically focusing upon the interconnection of reading and writing processes, and investigating in greater depth the effects of teacher attitudes toward teaching.
This action research / field study focused on investigating whether or not the integration of dialogue journals into content classrooms would be an effective strategy to improve students' attitudes and abilities in the areas of writing, learning, and higher-level thinking. It was based on the concepts of writing Across the curriculum, writing to learn, and dialogue as the heart of learning. Eight students were selected for this study, from middle years Science and Social Studies classes in a rural school in Manitoba. After six to eight weeks of written interactions between students and teachers in a natural classroom setting, 88% of the treatment group displayed growth in almost all areas measured. Results indicated that students showed substantial growth in writing, particularly test writing; responded to teacher prompts at a much higher level of thinking; improved grades on higher-level, long-answer test questions; and interacted with the content being studied on a more personal level. Students also displayed more confidence in themselves as writers, learners, and thinkers as a result of this study. Data collected led to the conclusion that integrating dialogue journal writing into content classrooms should facilitate growth in writing, learning, and thinking for most students from grade four onward, over a relatively short period of time.
This dissertation describes in-depth, using participant's words, experiences of undergraduate college writers. The study was undertaken in an attempt to understand from a student perspective what it is like to write in one's major course of study and throughout the university curriculum. There were seven students, representing different academic majors at a large university. Each were interviewed in a series of three open-ended interviews totaling four and one-half hours. Key questions followed Seidman's (1987) protocol for phenomenological in-depth interviewing: What was writing like for you before college? What is writing like for you now? And, What does your writing mean to you? Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, Three participant's transcripts were edited into profiles of the individual writers while other interviews were used to illumine themes common to all the participants. Insights from this study suggest students are "practitioners" and possess a certain "practitioner-expertise" in being student writers. This practitioner knowledge reveals student experiences are more complex than indicated by previous research. Among these complexities are students' interactions with their instructors, and their own procrastination, which produce tension about writing. Forms of this tension are explored in the histories and current experiences of different students. These experiences indicated that when student writing is perceived as a "task" which must be completed simply to comply with a course requirement, there is a tendency to Approach writing in a formulaic way, with little attention paid to the writing processes. On the other hand, the participants expressed that writing is a positive experience at times when they are consciously aware it has contributed to their learning in a subject- area or when it has aided them in their personal growth. The study indicates writing in college is often shaped by the bureaucratic enterprise of grading and sorting students. Recommendations include making teacher-student interactions consultative and personable, teachers and administrators stronger advocates for smaller class size, and giving students choices of instructional approaches to writing so individual needs as writers are being met in composition courses and Across the curriculum.
Current research in English/language arts advocates the incorporation of writing in content areas Across the curriculum as a means of learning content as well as a means of evaluating content mastery. Focusing on the content area of social studies and acknowledging the importance of the text as a teaching tool, this study examined to what degree and in what manner selected social studies textbooks incorporated writing. Texts selected for the study were nationally published history textbooks which had been adopted for use in the state of Virginia at grades seven and eleven, where the teaching of United States history is mandated in Virginia. Accompanying the basal textbooks as a primary tool of instruction is the complementary teacher manual or guide. Using Britton's categories for functions of writing (i.e., Expressive, Transactional and Poetic) and Donlan's four categories of writing particular to the social studies (i.e., Reporting, Exposition, Narration and Argumentation), an analysis was made of writing assignments offered via selected social studies textbooks and their accompanying teacher manuals. Text packages selected for the study reflected those U.S. history texts adopted for use in Virginia at grades seven and eleven. The treatment of writing in the selected textbook packages was examined to determine the reflection of current research and Theory in the area of composition. Findings paralleled the national Applebee study of 1981 finding that most writing required in secondary schools was of a Transactional nature, most often requiring students to report or explain information, seldom requiring creative writing as with Narration. Moreover, examination of state and national social studies professional journals revealed relatively little support in instructing social studies educators on how to include writing in this content area.
Teachers-in-training for elementary and middle school education often exhibit high levels of anxiety and low self-confidence in teaching mathematics. The objective of this study was to design a training program that made mathematics exciting, enjoyable, and clearly understandable so that preservice teachers could communicate positive feelings about mathematics to their students. Building on extensive research regarding the different ways in which people process spatial and numeric information and the relationship between visual-spatial thinking and mathematics, a multi-modal Approach in teaching and writing Across the curriculum was created that uses pictures, numbers, and words to facilitate comprehension and retention of basic mathematical concepts. The dissertation consists of two main parts. The first part is a teacher's guide called 'Pic-Jour Math' which incorporates pictorial journal writing into its multi-modal presentation of the essential numerical equations taught at the elementary and middle school levels. The second part consists of a study of preservice teachers to test the impact of using pictures in the journal writing processes. The study compared the attitudes of teachers-in-training who used journal forms that included pictures, words and numbers versus those that used journal forms with words and numbers alone. The effect of using pictorial diagrams on math anxiety, perceived ability to teach mathematics, level of self-confidence in mathematics, ability to have a clear sense of task, to write a focused introduction, create a smooth transition of thought between steps, offer evidence to support every major point, generate a clear logical order, use a proper choice of words, express oneself succinctly, avoid repetition, convey ideas comfortably, coordinate the modes, and clarify ideas through the writing process was assessed. Results of the study indicated a marked change in attitudes when pictorial note-taking was incorporated in the journal writing process. With all forms of journal writing, math anxiety decreased and self-confidence and perceived ability to teach in math increased. With the added dimension of pictures, teachers-in-training believed that they were able to express themselves more easily, were better able to execute their task, and were more metacognitively aware.
This study examined the effectiveness of writing-to-learn (WTL) activities in college art history and art studio courses. WTL is rare in all disciplines, including art. The study began with a survey of over 400 universities known to have writing Across the curriculum (WAC) programs; it found that the few art teachers who are seriously committed to writing assign large amounts of writing, much of it informal WTL, and provide sophisticated support for formal assignments. This study also carried out two pre-test/post-test comparison studies, one in art history classes and one in art studio classes. Art history experimental groups wrote both expressive and critical essays, in class, on art masterpieces about once every two weeks. The literature review showed that traditional teachers, even those who want their students to practice critical thinking skills, such as art criticism, worry that the introduction of writing into the classroom will displace lecture time, reducing coverage. This study hypothesized that in-class WTL exercises would improve retention of facts, even though hours of lecture would be lost, because students who wrote would become more engaged in the course, that is, more interested and alert, since they would regularly have to do what the teacher was doing--discuss art. Pre-test/post-test scores confirmed the hypothesis. In the drawing comparison study, the experimental group wrote twelve out-of-class informal journal entries on their problems and accomplishments in carrying out drawing assignments. for pre- and post-tests, students drew still-life drawings with charcoal at the beginning and end of the course. The drawings were rated by art teachers not otherwise involved in the study. It was hypothesized that the experimental group, by focusing on their problems through writing, would learn more than the control group, which did no writing. The hypothesis was confirmed by the ratings. Finally, the drawing class journals were examined for evidence of the usefulness of journals to teachers for monitoring purposes. That evaluation revealed that journals were useful for understanding and following student learning and for improving teaching.
Potentially, the most important response to widespread criticism about the quality of writing and writing instruction is Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). WAC can mean a total immersion in writing, horizontally in all departments and vertically at all grade levels. It can encompass current writing Theory, but only if teachers understand such Theory and can apply it. WAC Theory must be incorporated into the entire process of professional preparation. WAC philosophy believes that (a) writing can be learned and should be taught, (b) writing is a way to clarify thought, (c) writing is a way to learn, and (d) writing is a complex, individualized process. This understanding is required to teach in a successful WAC program. The literature offers little evidence that schools of education feel a responsibility to emphasize writing and writing instruction at the preservice level. Therefore, a study was initiated to survey the eight Florida schools of education that are members of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) for the purpose of determining practices and perceptions regarding WAC. This descriptive research called for two survey questionnaires, which invited responses from 8 administrators and 250 secondary education students and tested 11 hypotheses. These hypotheses related to required courses for writing and writing instruction, student understanding of WAC Theory, student perception of WAC status, level of student confidence to write and use writing, student willingness to become writing teachers, and student perception of the importance of writing. The conclusions indicate that WAC is not a well-known, well-used, or well-respected term: a majority (59%) had never heard the phrase before; a majority (63%) do not know writing-to-learn strategies; a majority (60%) do not support WAC programs. Only 6% feel WAC is an important focus in their schools of education. The remainder of the study recommends a required preservice course in WAC for all future teachers and suggests some components that course should contain.
This research is a study of science teachers' perspectives or world views about writing in science. One aspect of the writing-Across-the-curriculum movement, writing in science, is based on the premise that writing improves learning and that writing in science provides an understanding of science as a discipline. Chapter Two reviews the writing-to-learn literature focusing specifically on studies concerning writing in science. A two-phase, qualitative research design was used to describe science teachers' perspectives about writing in science. Phase I consisted of a questionnaire distributed to middle and high school science teachers. Three types of survey questions were used to capture aspects of science teachers' perspectives--open ended, semantic differential, and Likert. Phase II involved a series of interviews with five science teachers. The interview data were analyzed and interpreted using Strauss' notion of constant comparison. Chapter Three describes the methodology used in developing the questionnaire and selecting interview participants. Chapters Four and Five contain discussions of the analysis, interpretation, and findings of the questionnaire and interview data, respectively. After the questionnaire and interview data were analyzed and interpreted independently, the findings of both data sets were synthesized. This synthesis of the data, overall conclusions of the study and implications for researchers of writing, science education researchers and practioners are included in Chapter Six. In summary, the findings of this study suggest that: (1) the way science teachers perceive their own writing is significantly different than the way they perceive their students' writing; (2) science teachers have traditional models of what teaching and evaluating writing entails; (3) a dual science curricula exists which results in dual assignments and ways of evaluating success; (4) the science teachers' view of writing Across the curriculum may be the result of beliefs about the differences in writing in science and English classrooms, what teaching and evaluating writing entails, and what they believe is important to know about science; and (5) science teachers do not perceive writing in science as a concern.
Proponents of writing Across the curriculum, or more specifically, 'writing to learn,' claim that it can improve student learning, can increase involvement with the content and the class, and improve the student teacher relationship. However, most of these claims are from a teacher's point of view. Little specific attention has been paid to the response of students to writing to learn or to the effect of a teacher's attitude toward and implementation of writing to learn on his or her students' response. To research these two problems, I observed six college classes, covering a wide range of content and levels as the teachers used writing to learn with their students. I surveyed the students in the classes three times during a semester and interviewed each faculty member and several students from each class several times on their opinions and reactions to writing to learn. Contrary to the cautions in some of the literature, students began the semester confident that writing to learn would help them learn, and most maintained that attitude regardless of their teacher's attitude. However, the way that a teacher implemented writing to learn could effect student response. Clear, purposeful assignments met with the greatest approval; classes in which assignments were unclear, overwhelming, or not responded to did not see as much worth in writing to learn.
This study investigated writing and its functions in an important but neglected academic context: undergraduate study in business. The focus of the study was a small business management course at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Adding to our knowledge of writing to learn in the overlapping communities of school and discipline was a major goal of the study. This study is situated within two communities which focus on academic settings: Writing Across the Curriculum (concerned with native English speakers) and English for Academic Purposes (focusing on non-native speakers of English). Bringing together related scholarship and research methodology from these areas to produce insight for teaching was another aim of the study. The two applied fields share a social-rhetorical view of language, leading to research which frames questions in terms of writers, readers, and their texts, in the contexts in which they are written and read: suggesting an ethnographic Approach. This study made use of participant observation, interviewing, text analysis and administration of a questionnaire to address two questions: (1) How do the contextual features comprising this academic situation (the course, the university setting, the discipline, the national setting) interact with writing? (2) How can such knowledge be applied to the teaching of composition in academic settings? Findings indicate that the important contextual features are the course, the nationality and culture of the participants, the discipline, and that the writing occurs in a university setting. of less importance was that students were non-native speakers of English. The Writing in Small Business Management was neither good academic nor good professional writing; it was 'school' writing, assigned for evaluation purposes and rated highly when it demonstrated learning, regardless of the quality of the writing. Students viewed this transactional writing both as a vehicle for demonstrating their knowledge (to the teacher) and for exploring and shaping their own ideas (for themselves). Through writing students learned to reason as business professionals, to work in groups, and to apply business knowledge. Nevertheless, students could have learned a great deal more were their writing expected not only to demonstrate learning in business (writing to do school) but also to demonstrate good business in writing.
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to establish the current state of the behaviors and attitudes of the teachers of English, foreign languages, mathematics, science, and social studies toward the teaching of composition at Dunwoody High School, in anticipation of establishing a writing Across the curriculum program. Methods and procedures. The methods and procedure used consisted of giving comparable surveys to the teachers in these departments and to the students in classes selected by the teachers. The surveys asked about the purposes for writing, the nature of prewriting activities, the kind and number of writing tasks undertaken, the techniques of instruction, the system of evaluation used, and related matters. A conception of the writing instruction that went on in the classes could be inferred from the information obtained. Results. The teacher and student surveys were compared. The results showed that students generally saw less of the practices usually associated with composition instruction going on in their classes than the teachers did and that the teachers themselves saw little enough. of the seven factors studied, teachers in the all-faculty group and their students agreed that low use was made of items listed under Goals for Composing Instruction, Content, and Evaluation. Students and teachers agreed that extremely low use was made of items under Writing Tasks, Audience, and Publication and Display. Teachers saw low use, while students saw extremely low use of Writing Tasks. Conclusions. The conclusions arrived at are that both the philosophical and pedagogical areas of Dunwoody's composition programs are in need of improvement at present. Philosophically, Dunwoody teachers apparently see themselves almost exclusively as evaluators of student writing and spend very little time helping students learn to write. Pedagogically, many roads to improvement could be taken. The three most practical, manageable, and promising of success would be working harder on prewriting activities, stressing strategies of editing and revising, and providing for the publication or display of student work. These are promising, inexpensive places to begin improving. Dunwoody should adopt writing Across the curriculum as a tool to help students write better and to learn more of the subject matter about which they write.
Since journals were introduced into the composition curriculum in the 1960's, they have become increasingly important components both of writing and writing Across the curriculum courses. Yet the available literature shows we know little about the historical and social contexts of journal and diary keeping. This dissertation looks at the ways gender informs our students' attitudes toward and experience with journal keeping in both academic and nonacademic settings. Using three men's and three women's journals as the focal point of my discussion, I find striking sex differences both in the quantity and in the 'qualities' of the journals they wrote. These patterned differences, I claim, are linked with centuries- old gendered traditions of journal and diary keeping, and are consonant with other larger gendered patterns in discourse, which in large part, are a consequence of the dominant/muted and public/private relationships men and women have held with regard to language. Implications for teaching and further research are discussed.
'Writing Across the curriculum' was defined as a systematic attempt to introduce students to a wider variety of the aims of discourse, a variety which can invite them to look at new subjects from different perspectives. In addition, the researcher hypothesized that one of the roles of a teacher introducing writing into a content area is to engage students in productive writing experiences via clear and purposeful writing assignments. The study that followed, which described a decentralized university-wide writing requirement, was based on attitudes and practices of university instructors teaching writing as a substantial component of courses in the content areas at The University of Texas at Austin. Research methods included a questionnaire survey and content analyses of instructors' syllabi, writing assignments, students' writing samples, and teachers' comments on student writing. Thirty-five faculty members from 21 departments of nine of the ten colleges and schools offering 'substantial writing component' courses in the fall of 1986 participated after an initial stratified random selection of the sample; the sample was differentiated by degree of preparation for teaching writing. Both the survey and the content analyses were described statistically. Syllabi were examined for references to writing and the integration of writing assignments Across the semester. Assignments were analyzed for explicit and implicit content cues categorized under four dimensions: rhetorical, instructional, cognitive, and general (i.e.) nature and language of the assignment). Analysis of writing samples tied the importance of assignment dimensions to instructors' evaluations. Comments analysis revealed the frequency of comments by type (rhetorical, instructional, cognitive, and general assignment specifications). The researcher concluded that there was a wide interpretation of the writing requirement. However, writing was found to be used as a method of learning even by instructors who had not been trained in writing Across the curriculum. Faculty were more likely to share attitudes but disagree on instructional strategies. Assignment analysis revealed, in part, a range of specific tasks; discourse aims were generally referential. The researcher cited lack of consistent faculty development and decentralized administration as reasons for the wide interpretation. Implications for faculty development in writing Across the curriculum were noted.
The purpose of this study is to provide a writing pedagogy grounded in Theory. The teaching method I developed consists of sequencing certain types of assignments. The classification of types and the organizational structure of the sequences are based on a teaching model that draws upon Theories from various disciplines. The teaching activities that constitute the pedagogy are not new in themselves. What is new is the teacher's awareness of purposes underlying these activities. The pedagogy aims at improving thinking through writing. It is based on two models, one educational-cognitive-developmental, and one logical-rhetorical. In the first two chapters, a model from educational Theory is expanded with cognitive developmental Theories to create a social constructionist-based model for cognitive and ethical growth for ages 18 and beyond. In the third chapter, a logical model for informal argument is expanded with rhetorical Theories to create a social constructionist-based model for communication. The developmental model and the argument model are then connected through the pedagogy: the sequence in which the argument model is taught corresponds closely to the phases of the developmental model. Furthermore, the teaching sequence is geared to systematically address conventional composition concerns such as invention, organization, revision, and concern with audience. In the fourth chapter, four possible applications of the pedagogy are presented as guidelines to college-level writing teachers. The pedagogy relies on reading to introduce and on writing to explore different perspectives on a variety of popular topics. Because of its emphasis on the relationship between reading and writing, the pedagogy lends itself to use in freshman composition courses as well as Across the curriculum courses on all levels. In general writing courses, the pedagogy can be used to discover and teach the habits of mind and of presentation necessary in academia, to help students traverse their college careers more effectively. In Across the discipline writing courses, the pedagogy can be used to analyze the more specialized habits of mind and presentation of individual academic disciplines, from a rhetorical, humanities-based perspective.
How Historians Think was a semester-long Writing Across the Curriculum course offered to freshmen at Carnegie Mellon University during the fall of 1985. The course, an alternative to the basic required freshman writing course, was offered to students who scored highest in the freshman class on the English section of the College Boards. We designed the course on the premise that students could improve their writing skills and learn about a specific body of knowledge historical methodology simultaneously. We drew on research which claimed that writing facilitates students' intellectual growth because it elicits high level cognitive processes and complex conceptual demands. The reading material for the course included two books--a writing text and a historical work--and fifteen articles which demonstrated numerous ways historians think and write about the past. We required students to investigate the various components of historical analysis through reading, discussing and writing about the information. All three activities actively involved students in the learning process. Classroom activities involved direct student interaction with the materials, with the teacher, and with each other to promote a higher level of learning than merely passively listening to a lecture. Some of the writing assignments attached to the readings helped students become more receptive readers, while other writing assignments helped students to digest, assimilate, and accommodate new information into their existing cognitive structure. Multiple drafts and peer reviews for each of the four major paper assignments helped students to focus and at times to reformulate their ideas and provided feedback to sharpen their prose. The readings, writing assignments, and class activities attempted to increase knowledge and to develop intellectual skills and analytical abilities in both history and writing. We utilized multiple evaluation measures to determine the success of the course in improving students' writing skills and in increasing their knowledge and understanding of historical analysis. The results of various measures concurred that we achieved both of these major goals. The instructors, external evaluators, and students agreed upon the overall success of the course, which students rated higher than most other English and History courses.
This descriptive study, Personalizing Science Teaching Through Student Journal-Keeping, aims to illustrate how the process of journal-keeping can be effectively used in the science classroom to give concrete expression to an existential philosophy of education. The study begins with an examination of the basis tenets of existentialism as they apply specifically to the field of education. The tenets of three existential thinkers are examined: the notion of dialogue in the writings of Martin Buber, the concept of a problem-posing pedagogy articulated by Paulo Friere, and the person-centered Approach to education advanced by Carl Rogers. There follows a study of the role of language in education with emphasis on the use of personal, expressive language as a means of learning. The Writing Across the Curriculum Movement, a concrete embodiment of the Theory and practice of contemporary studies in Language and Learning, is discussed at length. The attitudes identified in this paper as characteristic of existentialism are likewise identified as characteristic of the philosophical underpinnings of the Writing Across the Curriculum Movement. Within this Theoretical framework the study then proceeds to examine the process of journal-keeping with reference to its historical background, development and application to the field of education. A particular use of the journal-keeping process in a college course in Human Biology is then described. Following an explanation of the purposes and guidelines for the use of the journal in this course excerpts are quoted from the journals of nine students as illustrative of the way students used their writings to personalize the material under consideration and to relate it to their lived experience. Evaluative statements of the students and of the teacher are included to give evidence of the effectiveness of journal-keeping as a means to realize existential goals in a science classroom. The paper concludes with a re-emphasis on the teacher as the single most significant factor in effecting humanistic educational reform in the classroom.
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