Validation of the Writing Strategies Questionnaire in the context of Primary Education: a multidimensional measurement model

p.1-9Research has shown that writers seem to follow different writing strategies to juggle the high cognitive demands of writing. The use of writing strategies seems to be an important cognitive writing-related variable which has an influence on students’ writing behavior during writing and, therefore, on the quality of their compositions. Several studies have tried to assess students’ writing preferences toward the use of different writing strategies in University or high-school students, while research in primary education is practically non-existent. The present study, therefore, focused on the validation of the Spanish Writing Strategies Questionnaire (WSQ-SP), aimed to measure upper-primary students’ preference for the use of different writing strategies, through a multidimensional model. The sample comprised 651 Spanish upper-primary students. Questionnaire data was explored by means of exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analysis. Through exploratory factor analysis four factors were identified, labeled thinking, planning, revising, and monitoring, which represent different writing strategies. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the adequacy of the four-factor model, with a sustainable model composed of the four factors originally identified. Based on the analysis, the final questionnaire was composed of 16 items. According to the results, the Spanish version of the Writing Strategies Questionnaire (WSQ-SP) for upper-primary students has been shown to be a valid and reliable instrument, which can be easily applied in the educational context to explore upper-primary students’ writing strategiesS

THE EFFECT OF TWO MODES OF INSTRUCTION: MODELING VS. PRESENTATIONAL

We implemented an intervention of four lessons and tested the effects of two instructional modes as compared to the regular curriculum practices for completing a synthesis task at the preparatory program of a Turkish university. Participants were 48 upper-intermediate EFL learners (mean age=18) assigned to three conditions. The presentational condition received direct strategy instruction supported by mnemonics; the modeling condition observed a video of a peer doing the task using the same strategies mnemonic. In the control condition, there was no explicit reference to strategies; rather, students inferred the necessary information about writing an effective synthesis text from the instruction and the lesson materials. We hypothesized that both of the experimental conditions would have a positive effect on students’ synthesis text quality and writing processes and that modeling of explicit strategy use would have an effect over and above the other conditions. Results showed that students in the modeling condition improved their source use skills significantly more than students in the presentational condition, which was maintained in the delayed posttest four weeks later. No statistically significant condition effect was observed for content and authenticity of students’ texts. The modeling condition also showed and reported a more process-oriented approach to writing. 

Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English

Twice a year, in the May ann November issues, RTE publishes a selected bibliography of recent research in the teaching of English. Most of the studies appeared during the six-mouth period preceding the complication of the bibliography (July through December; 1999, for the present bibliography), but some studies that appeared earlier are occasionally included. The listing is selective; we make no attempt to include all research and research-related articles that appeared in the period under review. Comments on the bibliography and suggestions about items for inclusion may be directed to the bibliography editors We encourage you to send your suggestions to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]. You may also submit comments or recommend publications through the Annotated Bibliography page of RTE\u27s World Wide Web site at http://www.ncte.org/rte/

Improving Questioning-Answering Strategies in Learning from Multiple Complementary Texts: an Intervention Study

Studies have shown that inferential questions encourage a more in-depth understanding of texts and that students need to learn appropriate strategies for answering them, particularly when they deal with multiple texts. In this experimental study, the authors aimed to improve 8th grade students' (13- to 14 years old) ability to answer intra- and intertextual inferential questions when they read one or multiple complementary texts. The intervention was implemented by a group of middle-school history teachers. Teachers in both the intervention and control groups (IG and CG, respectively) taught the same teaching unit using the same reading materials. However, teachers in the IG participated in 12 hours of professional development seminars on analysis of their classroom practice and how to improve their questioning strategies. Post-intervention results revealed that students in the IG were significantly better than those in the CG at answering intra- and intertextual inferential questions. This difference was maintained at follow-up (two months after finishing the intervention). Students in the IG also performed better than those in the CG at a learning test. These results confirm the value of teaching students how to answer complex questions, especially when they refer to more than one text. The findings also support the value of the professional development program that enables teachers to reflect on their practice

Learning paths in synthesis writing: which learning path contributes most to which learning outcome?

This paper presents a secondary analysis of data collected during an intervention study in which students learnt to synthesise pairs of texts presenting opposite views on controversial issues. The original intervention study included two treatments and examined the effects of two instruction conditions when instructional materials and tasks were held constant. The participants were 114 undergraduate psychology students. The object of the instruction was a guide on strategies for writing an argumentative synthesis text. However, the instruction varied between explicit strategy instruction, consisting of explaining each of the process’s four phases (exploring and identifying arguments and counterarguments, contrasting positions, drawing an integrative conclusion, and organising and revising the final draft), modelled via videos, versus self-study of the written strategy guide. After the initial instruction session, the students in both groups practiced collaboratively writing synthesis texts over two sessions with access to the strategy guide. The primary study compared the individually written pre- and posttest syntheses and found statistically significant differences favouring explicit instruction in both dependent variables: the argumentation coverage and the level of integration. The secondary analysis reported in the current paper involved scoring additional written syntheses produced during two practice sessions and then analysing the data for all time points (pretest, posttest, and the two practice sessions) using structural equation modelling (SEM) to test whether explicit instruction directly or indirectly affected the two indicators of good argumentative synthesis texts—argument coverage and integration—via the following collaborative practice. The results suggested two different learning paths for both dependent variables: explicit instruction is effective for both variables, while collaborative practice only has an additional indirect effect on argument coverageThis research project was funded under the National Program for Basic Research Projects 2014–2016 by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (EDU2013-46606-C2-1) and Mobility Stays Salvador Madariaga 2015 by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (PRX15/00042

Strategy-focused writing instruction: just observing and reflecting on a model benefits 6th grade students

Three groups of typically-developing 6th grade students (total N = 62) each completed strategy-focused writing training. Using a combined lagged-group and cross-panel design we assessed the effectiveness of a sequence of four different instructional components: observation of and group reflection on a mastery model, direct (declarative) instruction, peer feedback and solo practice. Cumulative effects on written product and writing process were assessed at baseline and after each component. Findings supported the effectiveness of strategy-focused intervention: All three groups showed gains, relative to controls, in the quality of their written products assessed by both holistic and text-analytic measures, and a more structured and goal-focused planning processes. These effects were associated almost exclusively with the modelling and reflection component. Improved performance was sustained through other instructional components but there was no strong evidence that they provided additional benefit. This finding was replicated in all three groups, and across two different text-types

Learning to write syntheses: the effect of process feedback and of observing models on performance and process behaviors

Writing a synthesis text involves interacting reading and writing processes, serving the comprehension of source information, and its integration into a reader-friendly and accurate synthesis text. Mastering these processes requires insight into process’ orchestrations. A way of achieving this is via process feedback in which students compare their process orchestration with examples. Access to such examples of enacted process orchestration models might have an additional learning effect. In the present study we replicated and extended the study of Vandermeulen et al. (Written Communication, 40(1), 90–144, 2023) on the effect of keystroke logging data-based process feedback with feed-forward exemplars when compared to national baseline performances. In addition, we report the effect of a brief extension in which learners had the opportunity to observe an enacted model of their choice, showing one of three orchestrations of the initial stage of writing a synthesis task. A total of 173 10th—grade students were randomly assigned to a process feedback condition with or without added models. A baseline, consisting of a nationally representative sample of upper-secondary students’ texts and processes, served as an alternative control group. Results showed that the process feedback, both with and without observation, had a significant effect on text quality. Regarding the process data, students in the feedback condition had a more prominent focus on the sources as they spent more time in them and switched more often between text and sources, compared to the baseline. The observation task magnified this effect

Supporting teachers to develop interventions on argumentative writing strategies

In this roundtable we propose the following issue: what is necessary to help to develop teacher-implemented interventions to improve primary and secondary students’ writing strategies. Nowadays, there is abundant evidence on the elements that make writing interventions effective (e.g. Koster, Tribushinina, De Jong & Van den Bergh, 2015) as well as specific proposals on the design principles that can be used to develop them (Rijlaarsdam, Janssen, Rietdijk and Van Weijen, 2017). The interventions that help to generate this knowledge, as highlighted by Finlayson & McCrudden (2020), are usually researcher-implemented and focused on understanding precisely which elements make them effective to improve student performance. Without denying the relevance of this knowledge, we also need to know better how writing instruction can be effectively translated into a classroom context by school teachers. There are indeed fewer studies in which the intervention is teacher-implemented and the focus is on understanding how to help teachers that may struggle to develop those evidence-based interventions. In this roundtable we will explore which elements of the teacher training and support can be most helpful to teachers. Thus, the organizers, belonging to two research teams from the Netherlands and Spain, will begin by briefly presenting the design of two studies. In both of them attention is paid on helping secondary school teachers to include instruction on argumentative writing in their subjects. Afterwards, most of the time will be dedicated to analyzing which are the greatest obstacles and best aids so that teachers would be willing and capable to continue the instruction in their daily practice.2021-2