The purpose of this study was to examine elementary students\u27 attitudes towards writing and experiences that have shaped their identities as writers. Through grade level focus group interviews, we learned more about how children’s writing attitudes develop over time and how these factors can be used to improve instructional practices

Axelrod, Ysaaca D

Hall, Anna H

English

Clemson University: TigerPrints

Clemson UniversityTigerPrintsPublications Eugene T. Moore School of Education11-2013Examining Elementary School Students' Attitudestoward WritingAnna H. HallClemson University, ah2@clemson.eduYsaaca D. AxelrodClemson UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/eugene_pubsPart of the Education CommonsThis is brought to you for free and open access by the Eugene T. Moore School of Education at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion inPublications by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact kokeefe@clemson.edu.Recommended CitationHall, Anna H. and Axelrod, Ysaaca D., "Examining Elementary School Students' Attitudes toward Writing" (2013). Publications. 25.https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/eugene_pubs/25NCTE Submission 2013  The purpose of this study was to examine elementary students' attitudes towards writing and experiences that have shaped their identities as writers. Through grade level focus group interviews, we learned more about how children’s writing attitudes develop over time and how these factors can be used to improve instructional practices.  Description = The purpose of this study was to explore and examine writing experiences that have motivated children (K-5) to write and have helped develop children's positive and negative attitudes towards writing. The guiding research questions were:  a.What experiences have increased students’ interest in writing? b.What experiences have decreased students’ interest in writing? c.What do elementary school students like to write about? d.What types of writing do elementary school students prefer to engage in?      Results of previous studies indicate that grade level, gender, and attitudes toward writing are related to writing achievement (Knudson, 1995). Graham, Berninger, and Fan (2007) found writing attitudes directly influenced writing achievement in a study examining the relationship between first and third graders’ writing motivation and achievement.  Because writing attitudes and motivation can predict writing performance, it is imperative to learn more about key experiences that motivate young children to write. Past studies have been conducted measuring students’ attitudes towards writing (Graham et al., 2007; Nolen, 2007; Piazza & Siebert, 2008) but little research exists describing specific writing experiences that motivate young children to write. It is the goal of this study to add to the current literature in order to inform the curriculum and instructional practices of writing teachers in the elementary school setting.      Through our focus groups with students of the various grade levels, we learned about writing experiences that have positively influenced their desire to write and influenced their writing development. We found students reported positive experiences with writing revolving around topic choice and the publishing of their work and negative experiences including assigned writing tasks and critical feedback from adults (Hall & Grisham-Brown, 2010). We saw shifts in writing attitudes over time, as children had more experience with writing. We found that these shifts looked differently depending on their gender and writing experiences in school and home, and we found themes increasing in maturity through the grade levels.      The impact of this particular study is threefold: (1) data informed the research site about the experiences of their own students in order for them to think about their own writing curriculum, (2) the study served as a pilot to design a model for a longitudinal study that can follow children’s writing experiences from Kindergarten-12th grade, and (3) knowledge was gained about student attitudes and interests in order to develop a professional development model for writing teachers.    References Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. (2007). Qualitative research in education: An introduction to theory and practice (5th ed.). Boston: Ally and Bacon.  Bruning, R. H., & Horn, C. (2000). Developing motivation to write. Educational Psychologist, 33 (1), 25–37.  Graham, S., Berninger, V., & Fan, W. (2007). The structural relationship between writing attitude and writing achievement in first and third grade students.  Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32, 516-536.  Hall, A.H., & Grisham-Brown, J. (2011). Writing development over time: Examining preservice teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about writing. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 32, 148-158.  Knudson, R. (1995). Writing experiences, attitudes, and achievement of first to sixth graders. Journal of Educational Research, 89, 90–97.  Nolen, S.B. (2007). Young children’s motivation to read and write: Development in social contexts. Cognition and Instruction. 25(2), 219-270.  Piazza, C.L., & Siebert, F. (2008). Development and validation of a writing dispositions scale for elementary and middle school students. The Journal of Educational Research. 101(5), 275-285.   

Examining Elementary School Students\u27 Attitudes toward Writing

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Examining Elementary School Students\u27 Attitudes toward Writing

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