Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Struggling writer'

Abstract Writing continues to be difficult for adolescents throughout the United States. There is little known about writing from the adolescent's perspective. This case study describes six 8th graders' thoughts and motivations on writing. The purpose of the current study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of struggling adolescent writers by taped participant interviews of six students, three male and three female, which scored below proficient on their state writing assessment. The conceptual theoretical framework for the current study is Bandura's social cognitive theory. The central research question of this study focused on the experiences of adolescents who struggle with writing on state assessments. Qualitative data were collected during a three week period and analyzed in two stages. Stage 1 was the analytical compiling of the data into categories; stage 2 examined the data for patterns, themes, and relationships. Thematic analysis revealed six themes. Analysis of data supported the theoretical framework that students who struggle with writing were low on morale and motivation on writing assignments. Results of the study included a desire in the students to excel on their writing assignments, but the eagerness was subdued by the challenges they faced in writing. The data showed that students struggle with the amount of knowledge they have on a given topic and the techniques used to write a coherent sentence. Students stated that they need guidance to gather information on a given topic and with organization of their writing. In response to the students' perceptive, teacher can plan, implement, and guide students towards success in writing. This study can contribute to social change as it will guide teachers of writing instruction strategies that will respond to the challenge of mastering a difficult and complex subject.

This mixed methods study combining a single-subject experimental design with an embedded case study focuses on the impact of a visual treatment on the handwritten and typed output of a struggling male writer during his 5 th through 7 th grades who has undergone a longitudinal remedial phase of two and a half years creating text-only material as well as graphic novels (on paper, on the computer, and online). The purpose of this research was to develop and assess the effectiveness and practicability of a visual treatment in order to help this high-achieving student with excellent comprehension and oral skills but impaired execution of writing tasks to produce cohesive, well-organized stories within a given time. It was hypothesized that by breaking up the assignments into visual chunks (speech bubbles), taking away the threat of a blank page to be filled by text only, exercising his artistic capabilities, and fostering pride of authorship and achievement through (online) sharing, this treatment would improve the participant's written output in quality, quantity, and pace. The 6+1 Trait ® Writing Scoring Continuum (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, early 1980s) was employed to assess the participant's writing performance, and the Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) (Flanders, 1970) were used to note his on-task/off-task behavior and the categories of his responses during tutoring sessions. An auditor was employed to confirm the investigator's evaluations; if contradictions occurred, the artifact in question was omitted from the study. The participant underwent extensive educational assessment regarding his reading and writing predilections and habits prior to study begin (quantitative data) in the form of rating scales, such as the Classroom Reading Inventory, the Elementary Writing Attitude Scale, and others. He was further observed during clinical supervision (audio- and videotaping), and underwent qualitative assessment (content analysis of written output) during the study, and post-study performance tests (quantitative and qualitative data). Baseline graphs were employed to establish the traits of his writing behavior during all three experimental stages (pre-treatment, treatment, post-treatment), and tutor logs shed further light on the participant's feelings and behavior under each condition. The interwoven mixed data revealed that the participant enjoyed the tutoring sessions, and even cried twice when he missed one, but that his attention deficit and off-task behavior severely interfered with the organization and quantity of his written output. The Flanders analysis showed that the slightest distraction through his environment (tutor, second tutee, etc.) took his focus off his writing tasks, and that the tiniest thing out of order (e.g., a wrong digital display of the current time of day on his computer screen) could occupy his thoughts for minutes, or trigger an exaggerated outburst after half an hour. Flanders also confirmed, as the higher quality of his output had shown, that the boy was strongly motivated by what interested him (Star Wars), and that he would put extra care in the creation of corresponding tasks. It can be concluded that self-chosen material, and not the format of graphic novels, motivated the participant to work. The content analysis of his post-treatment essay as compared to his pre-treatment essay showed that he was able to finish it, that the length had augmented, that the chronological order of events was maintained thanks to having learned organization through panels, but that the creativity and ideas had declined. Finally, the analysis of The 6+1 Trait ® Writing Scoring Continuum, which examined ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation of ten writing samples per stage, showed that the participant had scored 30.2 in the pre-treatment stage, 29.2 in the treatment stage, and 32.8 in the post-treatment stage. Given that the participant had matured during the two and a half years of study, the gain was not important enough to justify a graphic novel intervention to improve the writing of this specific student. The astonishing low score in the easiest stage, the treatment stage itself (where he only had to fill in speech bubbles) was a result of the genre itself (which called for less descriptive written output) and of the fact that the participant thought this stage was “easy” (as per interview from 05/17/2011) and might have felt not sufficiently challenged. It can be concluded that the graphic novel treatment was effective in helping with the chronological organization within the participant's texts, but this goal could maybe also have been achieved by structuring through sub-headings or perhaps voice recordings of a list of steps. Due to the high off-task behavior and time consumption, this treatment would not be feasible in a classroom setting, but might work in a resource room. During the treatment, the participant revealed himself as auditory, not just visual learner, who was motivated by sound and music, especially in combination with his online Star Wars photo story; he was planning on an animated story with movie features. In the future, this highly articulate child would benefit from self-chosen writing tasks that include the creation of online stories with pictures, animation, and sound. His behavior needed more remediation than the quality of his written output. Future studies should investigate the effectiveness of writing workshops using graphic novels within the classroom setting, as proposed by Thompson (2008), and also assess the benefits of digital story-telling (Burke & Kafai, 2012) as an additional motivational factor, while putting special emphasis on students who display autistic and ADHD behavior.

The purpose of this study was to fill gaps in the research to determine if picture books in the high school classroom can enhance student writing especially with word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Previous research has not fully considered employing picture books as mentor texts to examine writing traits in the high school Language Arts classroom. The population was 12 participants from two low track English 10 Reading classes. Six participants were identified from each class as low, medium, or high-performing students based on an informal narrative writing activity. This study employed an action research methodology (Sagor, 2000). Students were taught from an inquiry-based approach as the teacher read aloud each book, and asked students what they noticed. Students reviewed the picture books to guide them as they were challenged to improve their writing. Findings from the study illustrate that picture books as mentor texts can help secondary students of all ability levels improve their word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions in narrative writing as measured by a writing trait rubric created by Vicki Spandel and adapted by Jim Burke. Picture books were tools that helped students think and act like writers. Conclusions also highlighted the lack of word choice and sentence fluency instruction in the students' formative years. This study shed light on the abstract nature of sentence fluency, and an effective way to mitigate this problem. This study provided a new angle with which to teach the writing traits through narrative composition instruction, and teacher modeling. Further, this study adds to the literature of effective high school instruction as picture books as mentor texts are less common in the high school English Language Arts classroom.

Four adolescents identified as struggling writers in an English language arts classroom were interviewed about their perceptions of a writing task--how they judged their capability to succeed, how they ranked their passion, persistence, and confidence about writing, and how they responded to classroom activity. Student perceptions of self-efficacy and the related self-beliefs of motivation and interest as well as self-regulation were stated and implied as students described a planning worksheet, instructional scaffolding, peer interactions, and ownership of their writing. Wersch's view of mediated action and Engestrom's model of activity systems were the lens through which the students' descriptions were analyzed. Findings suggested surprisingly high self-efficacy despite low interest, contrasting attitudes between both school writing and their out-of-school writing, and the possibility that students labeled as struggling writers by their teachers may not see themselves as struggling.

Voice is an integral part of writing instruction, and over half of state writing assessments include voice on scoring rubrics; yet, there is a dearth of research on voice and writing instruction with adolescents. Increasingly new literacies and digital tools are being used in the high school English classroom but with relatively little known about how these tools can teach voice during writing instruction. This qualitative single-case study examined how a public school, ninth-grade English teacher used new literacies to develop voice in students' writing and participants' perception of these instructional choices. The sample included the teacher and 14 students, and data collection included classroom observations, participant interviews, motivation inventories, reflective logs, state writing scores, students' writing folders, and wiki documents. An iterative process of inductive and deductive analysis led to key findings about instructional planning, purposeful writing assignments, teacher feedback, and participant response. Findings indicate that further attention is needed with respect to text structure development, writing pedagogy, and voice in writing; teachers' response to students' writing in digital environments; and motivation and adolescent writing.<br>Ph. D.

In this dissertation, I present the findings from a qualitative case study of the digital literacy integration of a teacher and the digital literacy practices of three students with literacy-related learning difficulties within her classroom. As a researcher, I was interested in the ways students with literacy- related learning difficulties navigated digital tools in a technology-infused environment created by a teacher who has experience using digital tools for instructional and student-learning purposes. My research was guided by the following questions: (1) What was the context, content, and structure of the teacher’s technology instruction? (2) In what ways did the students use technological tools? (3) How did students with reading difficulties compose during digital literacy events? The data for this case study included classroom observations, interviews, field notes, work samples, and lesson plans. Through the use of both inductive (Phase I and II) and a priori (Phase III) analysis, the data highlight several important findings to inform the research questions: (a) Knowledge of Technology Does Not Ensure Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (b) Students with Reading Difficulties Still Have Difficulty with Reading Despite Technology Integration and (c) Change in Writing Tool (technology) does not Guarantee Change in Writing Performance.

This small-scale ethnographic research study investigated student perceptions of social identity and agency and the usefulness of the construct of the Community of Practice for struggling writers in the context of a pre-university EAP program. The appropriateness of socio-cultural theories in language teaching and learning today stems from social constructivist and social interactionist theories of the role of language in the discursive construction of society, knowledge and power. This study problematised these constructs in the development of writing for learners in a pre-university Higher Education context. Comparing data from focal students who were struggling with writing and from students who were more successful, the biographies of struggling students and their awareness of their futures, or imagined selves and communities, revealed not only learning histories in which they had radically different identities as learners and writers, but also a lack of clarity about their learning trajectory in the writing program. There was no apparent lack of investment in learning among the focal students, who identified themselves as weak writers, although there was frustration and anger at their predicament. The data suggest that they did not identify with the learning community at the start of the project, probably because they resisted belonging to a community which labeled them as failures. During the study a variety of means were used to elicit participants’ perceptions of their status as novice writers and to support their learning trajectory on an individual basis by elucidating the reasons for and requirements of academic writing. By the end of the study the focal students had developed more awareness of the subject positions the writing trajectory afforded them and had chosen ways in which to continue along their learning path. The Community of Practice appears to have potential as a means of supporting the roles of EAP students and teachers as members of the academic community of practice.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University<br>Despite the critical importance of writing proficiency for success in higher education and the workplace (National Commission on Writing, 2003, 2004, 2005), writing achievement has remained stagnant for a number of years. Despite being firmly grounded in tenets of effective instruction (Graham & Perin, 2002) the widely used writer's workshop model (Calkins, 1994) has not produced the elevated achievement in writing that one might expect from such a program. An examination of what might account for the lower than expected gains led to speculation that the workshop model might not provide struggling writers sufficient opportunities to receive intensive and individualized instruction focused on their particular writing needs. This study examined the use of teacher-mediated, guided-writing groups as part of a traditional writer's workshop to explore how this context might mediate the difficulties experienced by struggling writers. A collective case-study approach generated a rich description of how four, struggling, fourth-grade writers experienced guided-writing groups and provided insight into how they applied taught strategies to their work during one personal narrative unit. Data sources were: writing samples, semi-structured student interviews, in-process writing interviews, videotaped guided-writing and whole class lessons, writing conference notes, and field notes. Writing samples were coded for revising and editing behaviors. All other data sources were open-coded, with a search for emerging themes. Findings indicated: (a) Participants improved in their overall writing performance and application of new strategies; however, strategy improvement varied according to the particular strategies taught during guided writing; (b) Participants grew in their ability to make text-level changes to their work; (c) Participants progressed toward independent application of new strategies; (d) Participants perceived guided-writing instruction as the source of their learning (as opposed to whole-class instruction); (e) The teacher's instructional actions and use of self-regulatory language differed between the guided-writing and whole-class contexts. During guided writing, the teacher provided frequent explanations and opportunities for guided practice, followed by assignment to students' own writing. Further, the teacher frequently used conditional language (when and how to apply a strategy). The author concluded that adding guided-writing groups to writer's workshop may improve struggling writers' application of target strategies.

This study addressed the issue of struggling student writers in a K-5 rural elementary school. This phenomenological study, based on social constructivist theory, investigated elementary teachers' experiences to determine effective writing strategies. Six teachers who had taught writing in the elementary grades for 5 consecutive years volunteered to participate in the study. All teachers participated in a focus group, and 2 teachers provided additional data via individual interviews. Member-checking was used to ensure trustworthiness of data. The data were analyzed; emerging themes developed categories and, through horizonalization and triangulation, gaps in writing instruction were revealed. Analysis from the teachers' perspectives led to key factors which contribute to successful writing instruction, incorporate more writing instruction school-wide, promote unity of teachers for planning and discussion of writing instruction, and use curriculum plans in writing instruction that leads to enhanced student success. This study sought to provide teachers with strategies for developing efficient writing instruction for students using a 9-week curriculum writing guide. This study will improve teachers' skills and lead to enhanced writing instruction and student learning by making connections between enriched teacher experiences; this study will also provide insights into the design and delivery of more effective writing instruction that creates local-to-global changes in student writing success.

Syftet med denna avgränsade systematiska forskningsöversikt är att studera de senaste fem årens evidensbaserade undervisningsmetoder för skrivutveckling. Syftet är också att studera hur sambandet mellan skrivutveckling, arbetsminne och självförmåga ser ut, samt dess konsekvenser för skrivundervisningen. Målgruppen är högstadie- och gymnasieelever som kämpar med skrivandet i skolan, så kallade struggling writers. Föreliggande studie består av åtta forskningsstudier som undersöker evidensbaserade effektiva skrivstrategier. Studierna är utvalda och avgränsade utifrån bestämda inkluderings- och exkluderingskriterier. Analys och tolkning sker både med utgångspunkt i Banduras social kognitiva teori samt utifrån aktuell forskning inom fältet. Resultatet visar att effektiva skrivundervisningsmetoder ger stöd för arbetsminnet och utvecklar skrivförmågan genom välstrukturerade strategier som även ger visuellt stöd. Därutöver innefattar undervisningsmetoderna medvetenhet om lärandet som social aktivitet vilket betonar goda relationer, konstruktiv feedback samt stöttande lärare som utgår från explicita metoder. Resultatet visar också att elevernas skrivförmåga förbättras när man lägger vikt vid att arbeta med deras tankesätt och självförmåga.<br>The aim of this limited systematic research review is to study evidence based teaching methods for writing, over the last five years. The aim is also to study the link between writing development, working memory and self-efficacy, and the consequences of such a linkage. The target group are struggling writers in late elementary and high school that experience difficulties in writing composition.   The present study consists of eight research studies on effective writing strategies, selected and limited by certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. The analysis and interpretation are carried out from the perspective of Bandura’s social cognitive theory, as well as from previous research in the field. The result shows that effective teaching methods for writing support students’ working memory and writing skills through well-defined structures and visual support. Furthermore, the methods include awareness of learning as a social activity which emphasises good relations, constructive feedback and supportive teachers using explicit methods. The result also suggests that when addressing students’ mindset and supporting their self-efficacy, writing proficiency improves.

The research describes the experience of a beginning special education teacher who examined and adapted her teaching practices to attempt to meet the learning needs of the young struggling readers and writers with whom she was working. Autoethnography allowed the researcher to probe and analyze her classroom practice. As the researcher shares her teaching experiences simplistic solutions to reading difficulties are discounted as ineffective. The hegemony of standards-based instruction and assessment practices are challenged. An educational system whereby some students are labeled as deficient due to their sociocultural or socioeconomic differences is viewed through a critical lens. The researcher proposes that fostering students’ freedom to express their knowledge using multimodal expression while supporting students within their zones of proximal development is the key to enhancing literacy learning. Creating learning opportunities that allow students to build on their strengths and pursue their interests ameliorates the injustice of the typical skill drill lessons regularly prescribed for students struggling in school. Teachers need to be respected as professionals who can make programming decisions that are specifically designed to support students at their level of need.

Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia Aplicada<br>Many young students experience difficulties in mastering writing tasks and are designated in the literature as struggling writers. Teacher’s feedback on writing is an educational tool suited to address this challenge and play a pivotal role in the development of students’ proficiency in writing. Thus, this study followed a quasi-experimental design along twelve weeks with third grade students of the Elementary School in the context of an intervention designed to promote self-regulation strategies in writing. The current study aimed to deepen our understanding about how struggling writers perceive and use the feedback provided by their teachers, and also how the different emerging feedback profiles are related with students writing. Three feedback profiles related to students’ perception about the feedback provided by the teacher and students will to use it, were identified as follows: low feedback profile, medium feedback profile and high feedback profile. The feedback profiles are consistent in all variables analyzed: self-regulation in writing, attitude towards writing and writing quality. Findings have shown that the majority of students were able to use the feedback provided by the teacher, perceiving it as useful to improve their written compositions. Independently of the feedback profile, all students enhanced the writing quality during this intervention.<br>Muitos alunos apresentam severas dificuldades em dominar tarefas de escrita, sendo estes designados na literatura como struggling writers. O feedback do professor, constitui uma ferramenta educacional adequada para enfrentar este desafio, e é ainda sugerido, como tendo um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento da proficiência da escrita nos alunos. Neste sentido, este estudo seguiu um desenho quase-experimental ao longo de doze semanas com alunos do 3.º ano do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, no contexto de uma intervenção destinada a promover estratégias de autorregulação. Esta investigação teve como principal objetivo aprofundar a nossa compreensão sobre a forma como os struggling writers percebem e usam o feedback fornecido pelos professores. Assim, três perfis de feedback foram encontrados: perfil baixo de feedback, perfil médio de feedback; perfil alto de feedback. Todos os perfis encontrados são consistentes em todas as variáveis em estudo (Autorregulação na Escrita, Atitude Face à Escrita e Qualidade da Escrita). Os resultados demonstraram que a maioria dos alunos foram capazes de usar o feedback fornecido pelo professor, percebendo-o como útil para melhorar as suas composições escritas. Independentemente do perfil de feedback, todos os alunos melhoraram a qualidade de escrita durante esta intervenção.

abstract: High school students with high-incidence disabilities and struggling writers face considerable challenges when taking high-stakes writing assessments designed to examine their suitability for entrance to college. I examined the effectiveness of a writing intervention for improving these students’ performance on a popular college entrance exam, the writing assessment for the ACT. Students were taught a planning and composing strategy for successfully taking this test using the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model. A randomized control trial was conducted where 20 high school students were randomly assigned to a treatment (N = 10) or control (N = 10) condition. Control students received ACT math preparation. SRSD instruction statistically enhanced students’ planning, the quality of their written text (including ideas and analysis, development and support, organization, and language use), the inclusion of argumentative elements in their compositions, and the use of transition words in written text. Limitations of the study, future research, and implications for practice are discussed.<br>Dissertation/Thesis<br>Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2017

The complex task of reading, understanding, analyzing, synthesizing, and subsequently writing in response to a prompt about multiple texts required by the Common Core writing standards is difficult for many students, especially struggling writers and students with learning disabilities. The majority of elementary teachers report having less than adequate preparation in writing pedagogy and identify writing as the area they feel least prepared to teach. In this multiple probe across participants study, two teachers, a special education teacher and a cooperating general education teacher in whose classroom he worked, served as teacher participants. The special education teacher implemented Self-regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) for informational writing citing text-based evidence from two sources following practice-based professional development (PBPD) with small groups of students. Three female and five male fifth-grade African American students teacher-identified as struggling writers or receiving Special Education services for a specific learning disability (LD) participated in the study. Research questions were: To what extent can SRSD be implemented with fidelity in small groups by a special education teacher in an inclusive general education setting? To what extent does SRSD instruction in the informational genre citing text-based evidence improve the writing skills of fifth grade students with LD or those who struggle in writing in terms of (a) analytic quality, (b) evidence of strategy use, and (c) length? To what extent is SRSD considered to be a socially valid intervention for use in inclusive education settings by the participating teachers and students? A teacher survey of classroom writing practices and observations of classroom writing practices were conducted prior to the intervention to contextualize current writing practices. Student writing probes were assessed for plagiarism, academic vocabulary, number of essay elements, evidence of strategy use, and length. Fidelity was collected for writing prompt administration, PBPD, and SRSD. The teacher implemented with high fidelity and rated PBPD favorably both before and after intervention. Following intervention, student analytic quality, evidence of strategy use, and number of words written increased. Instances of plagiarism were decreased following intervention. SRSD was rated high on measures of social validity by both students and teachers.

abstract: With Common Core State Standards (CCSS), all students are held to the same high expectations, including students learning English and other learners who may have academic difficulties. Many students learning English have trouble writing and need effective writing strategies to meet the demands the standards present. Ten fourth and fifth grade students learning English (6 girls and 4 boys), whose home language was Spanish, participated in a multiple baseline design across three small groups of participants with multiple probes during baseline. In this study, self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) for opinion writing using students’ own ideas was evaluated. Students who participated in this study demonstrated an increase in: the number of persuasive elements (e.g. premise, reasons, elaborations, and conclusion) included in their essays, overall essay quality, and the number of linking words used when writing opinion essays using their own ideas. Additionally, students’ knowledge of the writing process and opinion-writing genre improved. Students found the instruction to be socially acceptable. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.<br>Dissertation/Thesis<br>Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018