scholarly journals The Challenges of Struggling Writers: Strategies That Can Help

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 795
Author(s):  
Michael Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Struggling Writers ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Professional Literature ◽  
Academic Tasks ◽  
Instruction And Learning ◽  
Technological World ◽  
Basic Level ◽  
Numerous People

Writing is a necessary skill in our technological world. Many people have a mobile device that they use for e-mailing, social media, as an alarm clock to start the day, reading the news, searching for information, ordering food, managing transportation (e.g., monitoring traffic, accessing public transit), or for relaxing pursuits, such as watching a movie or listening to music. While these tasks are natural and almost effortless for numerous people, many students struggle with composing longer prose, especially for academic tasks. The 2021 U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress for Writing, for example, indicates that as many as 75% of students cannot write at a basic level. In this article, the author discusses recent examples from the professional literature about why writing can be a challenge for students, what is involved in writing assessment, how we can help students improve their writing skills, and how we can promote technology as part of the instruction and learning processes.

scholarly journals A sentence-combining intervention for struggling writers: response to intervention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty Walter ◽  
Julie Dockrell ◽  
Vince Connelly
Keyword(s):  
Oral Language ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Waiting List ◽  
Struggling Writers ◽  
Writing Interventions ◽  
Sentence Combining ◽  
Spelling Intervention ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Business As Usual

AbstractChildren who struggle with writing are a heterogeneous group and may experience difficulties in a range of domains, including spelling, reading, and oral language. These difficulties are reflected in their writing and may influence their responsiveness to writing interventions. The effectiveness of a targeted sentence-combining intervention to improve the writing skills of 71 struggling writers, aged 7 to 10 years, was compared with a spelling intervention and a business as usual (waiting list) control condition. Some struggling writers also performed poorly on measures of reading and oral language. Children's performance on a range of writing measures were assessed at baseline (t1), immediate post-test (t2) and delayed post-test (t3). Children receiving the sentence-combining intervention showed significant improvements in the sentence combining measure at t2 and t3 compared to both the spelling intervention and waiting list controls. Exploratory regression analyses found that children in the sentence-combining intervention, with a low t1 sentence combining score, low reading skills or better t1 spelling skills, were more likely to show improvements at t2. Findings indicate that when devising interventions for struggling writers, specific profiles of skills should be considered. Specifically, sentence combining may be more appropriate for SWs whose primary area of difficulty is reading, rather than poor spelling or oral language.

scholarly journals Reading and writing comprehension in the mother tongue in the Romanian national assessment – objectives, tests, results

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Biborka Szanto
Keyword(s):  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Mathematical Literacy ◽  
School Students ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
School Year ◽  
Basic Competencies ◽  
Hungarian Language ◽  
Learning Language

In Romania the basic competencies (reading and writing in the student’s mother tongue and in Romanian language in the case of students studying in minority schools, mathematical literacy) of students at the end of the 2nd and 4th grade of primary education are assessed starting with the school year 2013/2014. The paper analyses the tests of the national assessment designed and applied for measuring reading and writing skills in the mother tongue (in Hungarian language). The paper concludes that the tests are not carefully designed in order the measure the most important skills and abilities at the end of the 2nd and 4th grade. The study analyses the achievement in reading and writing of 2nd and 4th grade students’ attending schools teaching in Hungarian. The analysis fills a gap, because the detailed qualitative analyses of the results of elementary school students whose learning language is Hungarian, is missing from the reports presenting the results of the national assessment. Based on the analyses of the objectives, tests and results of the national assessment for reading and writing in Hungarian, the paper formulates the questions that arise regarding the necessity of this measurement.

Helping Struggling Writers

2014 ◽  
pp. 44-56
Author(s):  
Michael Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Assistive Technology ◽  
Computer System ◽  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Struggling Writers ◽  
Step Process ◽  
Story Writing ◽  
Pencil Grip ◽  
Assessment Results

Assistive Technology (AT), in the domain of special education, is defined as both tools and services. This chapter provides a description of this definition, what recent national and international writing assessment results indicate, what the characteristics of struggling writers are, and how AT can help these children improve and manage the complex and interdependent task of creating prose, story writing in particular. Key examples of AT services are Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD: a step-by-step process for teaching a student a strategy) and mnemonic strategies (the use of keywords to help a child retain the steps in managing a task such as story writing). In the context of writing, AT can range from a pencil grip to a complete computer system with writing-assistance software. Furthermore, the author reviews his own research studies about story writing and how integral AT is to helping these children. Finally, the need for students’ pre-requisite practice with AT is emphasized.

Helping Struggling Writers

2016 ◽  
pp. 1288-1301
Author(s):  
Michael Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Assistive Technology ◽  
Computer System ◽  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Struggling Writers ◽  
Step Process ◽  
Story Writing ◽  
Pencil Grip ◽  
Assessment Results

Assistive Technology (AT), in the domain of special education, is defined as both tools and services. This chapter provides a description of this definition, what recent national and international writing assessment results indicate, what the characteristics of struggling writers are, and how AT can help these children improve and manage the complex and interdependent task of creating prose, story writing in particular. Key examples of AT services are Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD: a step-by-step process for teaching a student a strategy) and mnemonic strategies (the use of keywords to help a child retain the steps in managing a task such as story writing). In the context of writing, AT can range from a pencil grip to a complete computer system with writing-assistance software. Furthermore, the author reviews his own research studies about story writing and how integral AT is to helping these children. Finally, the need for students' pre-requisite practice with AT is emphasized.

Writing assessment in higher education

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Callies ◽  
Ekaterina Zaytseva ◽  
Rebecca L. Present-Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The Common ◽  
Assessment In Higher Education

The importance of appropriate assessment methods for academic writing skills in higher education has received increasing attention in SLA research in recent years. Despite this, there is still relatively little understanding of how academic writing skills develop at the most advanced levels of proficiency. Use of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is one way to ensure the comparability of findings across research efforts and continue to move the field forward. This paper presents some key concepts and definitions from the fields of SLA and advancedness research, language assessment and corpus linguistics and introduces several papers that address writing assessment within the context of higher education.

scholarly journals Factors that Affect the implementation of Teaching Writing Skills: Focus on Second Cycle Primary Schools in North Shoa

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Seid Mohammed ◽  
Gessese Nigusse ◽  
Zenawi Nigussie ◽  
Belihu Zenebe
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
English Classes ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Language Instructors ◽  
Instruction And Learning

The purpose of this study was to determine the variables affecting the implementation of writing skills instruction and learning in grades 7 and 8 in North Shoa Zone Second Cycle Primary schools. The study's primary purpose was to determine the difficulties encountered by English language instructors and students while teaching and learning to write in English classes. The research included the participation of 25 English language instructors and 1484 pupils from 14 Second Cycle Primary Schools. A questionnaire and an interview were used to obtain the required data. Questionnaires were completed by instructors and students, and English language teachers were interviewed. The questionnaire data was tallied and examined statistically in terms of frequency and percentage. Similarly, interview data were categorized and qualitatively characterized. The investigation revealed that the majority of instructors and students struggle with teaching and learning writing skills. Additionally, although both English instructors and students believe they are engaging in writing activities in the classroom, the students' writing performance is not as promising as shown by open-ended questions and comments from English language teachers interviewed. Several key suggestions are made in light of the results of this research in order to mitigate the issues that impede the efficient implementation of writing instruction and learning in second cycle primary schools. The primary recommendation is to offer enough training for English language instructors on how to teach writing skills, which will then be conveyed to students in order for them to enhance their writing performance.

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF LEARNING STRATEGY AND INITIAL KNOWLEDGE ON THE ABILITY TO DEVELOP WRITING SKILLS ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-339
Author(s):  
Edi Puryanto ◽  
Yumna Rasyid ◽  
Fathiathy Murtadho
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Advance Organizer ◽  
Skills Assessment ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Assessment Skills ◽  
Initial Knowledge

This study was aimed at identifying the the effect of learning strategies and initial knowledge  on the ability in developing writing skills assessment instruments for students in the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program, FBS, UNJ. The method used in this research was experimental research with 46 samples. Sample 3 PB1 was treated with metacognition strategy and sample 3 PB2 was treated, with strategy advance organizer. The research instrument was a test of the ability to develop writing skills assessment instruments and a test of initial knowledge. After testing the hypothesis with the ANOVA test, in the 2 X 2 calculation table, Fcount (Inter-A) 6.008> Ftable 4.200 at the level of α = 0.05, indicating that H1 is accepted and Ho is rejected. This means that there are differences in ability to develop writing skills assessment instruments between students who are treated with metacognition strategies and strategies advance organizer. Furthermore, testing the hypothesis about the effect of the interaction of learning strategies and initial knowledge on the ability to develop writing skills assessment instruments and testing prior knowledge, data shows arithmetic (AxB interaction) = 5.485> ftable = 4,200 on the level of α = 0.05, H1 accepted and Ho rejected. That is, there is an interaction effect between learning strategies (metacognition strategies and strategies advance organizer) and initial knowledge (high and low) on the ability to develop writing assessment skills instruments. The learning outcomes of the ability to develop students' writing assessment skills instruments are influenced by learning strategies and initial knowledge.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN POETRY WRITING SKILLS ON CLASS V STUDENTS SDN 181 PEKANBARU

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 987
Author(s):  
Ghea Febian Huda
Keyword(s):  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Class V ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
Poetry Writing ◽  
And Performance

This study aims to determine the poetry writing skills of students in class V SDN 181 Pekanbaru based on aspects of theme, imagination, diction, and performance. Because of the lack of students 'poetry writing skills due to students' lack of skill in expressing ideas and thoughts. therefore by analyzing we can find out which aspects are not mastered by students. The study was conducted in class V odd semester of 2019. The sample in this study was saturated sampling. The assessment instrument used was a poetry writing skills test using a poetry writing assessment descriptor. The data obtained from poetry writing skills seen from 4 aspects, namely theme, imagination, diction and presentation, it can be concluded that the poetry writing skills of children who are categorized as highly skilled there are 5 (3.67%), then 9 (6.57%) skilled categories , and 103 (75.18%) were categorized as quite skilled, while students who were categorized as less skilled were 20 (14.60%) as a whole. Over all poetry writing skills class V SND 181 Pekanbaru obtain the average value of 64  categorized enough.

Improving Inquiry Questions to Foster Critical Thinking and Reflective Practice in a Journalism Capstone

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-320
Author(s):  
Brian J. Bowe ◽  
Roberta Kjesrud ◽  
Pippa Hemsley
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Writing Studies ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Writing Prompts ◽  
Assessment Measures

Education researchers have long been interested in helping students develop effective inquiry questions to guide research projects. In this study, students in a journalism senior capstone used writing-studies informed practices such as middle-stakes, iterative writing prompts to enhance metacognition and critical thinking. Using prompts to guide students to periodically revise their inquiry questions and working thesis statements, students showed improvement in their written products as measured through holistic writing assessment measures. Despite measurable improvement, students’ thesis statements were still lackluster, suggesting that programs should develop connected curricula that sequentially scaffold research methods, critical thinking, and writing skills across the major.

National Assessment of the Perceived Writing Skills of Entry-Level PR Practitioners

2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Cole ◽  
Larry A. Hembroff ◽  
Andrew D. Corner
Keyword(s):  
Writing Skills ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Entry Level
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