Competence in written expression : interactions between instruction and individual differences among junior high school students

This study explored the relative contributions of individual differences, instructional strategies and aptitude-treatment-interactions (ATI) to the writing performance of 600 grade eight and nine students in two British Columbia school districts. Two experimental schools were identified in each district. Participating classes within a school were randomly assigned to Treatment A, a skills-based approach to descriptive writing, or to Treatment B, a workshop approach to expressive and personal writing, for eighteen to twenty hours of instruction over ten weeks. Both treatments emphasized prewriting and peer editing activities; they differed principally in the degree of structure provided. Treatment A activities were teacher-directed, and designed to provide instruction and practice in specific skills. Treatment B offered less guidance; students selected and defined their own writing activities. Control classes in a third school received only literature instruction. Prior to instruction, measures of writing ability (a linear composite of seven performance scales), attitude toward writing, reading comprehension, field independence and cognitive complexity were obtained. Posttreatment, students completed an extended narrative and three Directed Writing tasks, and two affective scales. Seven performance scales — one holistic, two analytic and four Directed Writing -- were used to evaluate student writing. series of within-district multiple regression analyses simultaneously examined the contributions of aptitudes, treatments and ATI to each outcome variable. Where predictors caused a significant increase in explained variance for only one outcome or in only one district, these were dismissed as chance results. Sex, writing ability, attitude and reading comprehension demonstrated consistent effects on outcomes. Directed Writing scales showed significant effects for experimental over control groups; holistic and analytic scales did not. Treatment B students responded more favourably to the affective scales than did Treatment A, but there were few differences between these treatments for writing outcomes. Four ATI's showed a consistent pattern over three or more equations for performance outcomes: 1. Sex-by-attitude-by-treatment (Experimental versus Control) . Girls with negative attitudes performed better under the control condition; those with positive attitudes, under experimental treatments. The reverse was true for boys, although differences were not large. 2. Reading-by-treatment(A versus B). Students with high reading scores performed better under B; those with low scores, under A. 3. Complexity-by-treatment(A versus B). Students with high complexity scores attained higher performance scores in Treatment A; those with low complexity scores, in B. 4. Sex-by-reading-by-treatment(A versus B). Boys with high reading scores performed better under B; those with low scores, under A. The reverse was true for girls, although the Treatment B advantage for low scores was slight. Sex-by-field independence-by-treatment (A versus B) contributed to three of four affective outcomes. For boys in Treatment A, the association between field independence and affective scores was positive; for all other groups, the association was negative. The full model, incorporating aptitudes, treatments and ATI, explained a surprisingly low proportion — generally less than 50 percent — of the variance in writing performance.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat

The dissertation research requirement in secondary reading

In examining the dissertation requirement in secondary reading procedures followed included (a) identification of abstracts in "Dissertation Abstracts International" (Volumes 20 to 36, June 1961 to July 1976) relating to the field of secondary reading; development of classification parameters; rewriting and condensation of each abstract into an enriched annotation; arrangement of the resultant body of annotations within the classification scheme; and generation of Keyword in Context and author indexes (b) tabulation of the demographic variables of year of completion, degree awarded, institution granting degree and sex of author; and of content variables including type of research, educational domain, content classification, number of pages, data analysis techniques and data gathering techniques, and (c) bivariate analysis with data realigned and contingency tables developed and analyzed using Pearson's chi-square to examine the relationship of date of completion, degree awarded and sex of author to selected content variables-Literature reviewed in several areas including the process of graduate education, focusing primarily on the dissertation requirement; the communication and dissemination of research results; information science research on tools used in providing access to document collections; and content analysis methodology provided the conceptual framework and supported design and methodological aspects developed for the study. A body of 567 dissertation abstracts relating to secondary reading since 1960 was identified, empirically classified by content, and enriched annotations written for each of the studies. The resultant annotated bibliography, organized by content classification and within content classification by year of completion and accompanied by computer generated Keyword in Context and author indexes is appended. An average of slightly less than six keywords per document provide entry to the collection. Univariate analyses of the collection in terms of ten demographic and content variables reflected the diversity of interests, research methodology and design encountered in secondary reading, consistent with the view of secondary reading as an emerging field. Bivariate analyses, in terms of three demographic variables, indicated year of completion as maintaining the strongest relationship with the content variables considered. Conclusions emphasized the diversity of the dissertation collection; the limitations imposed by reliance on the secondary source ("Dissertation Abstracts International") abstracts of uneven quality; trends toward a greater number of Ph.D. Degrees and female authors; continued emphasis on the cognitive domain and reliance on standardized tests; no relationship between degree granted and content variables except for content classification; the utility of computer generated Key Word in Context indexes; and the potential use of the annotated bibliography. Recommendations included improvement and standardization of abstracts submitted to "Dissertation Abstracts International"; provision for making the annotated bibliography available in the open literature; and provision for alternate vehicles of announcement of completed dissertation research. Further research in the area was suggested including examination of dissemination of dissertation research in the open literature of the field; further content analyses of dissertation research in additional fields; identification and synthesis of substantive conclusions emanating from dissertations and consideration of these in relation to the current state of art in the field; application of citation analysis to dissertations to consider the degree to which extant literature has been utilized by dissertation authors; and a broad indepth study of the status of the Ed.D. Degree.Education, Faculty ofGraduat