Classroom Writing Tasks and Students' Analytic Text-Based Writing

Abstract

The Common Core State Standards emphasize students writing analytically in response to texts. Questions remain about the nature of instruction that develops students' text‐based writing skills. In the present study, we examined the role that writing task quality plays in students' mastery of analytic text‐based writing. Text‐based writing tasks (N = 149) were collected from 27 fifth‐grade teachers in an urban district, and teachers completed daily surveys (i.e., instructional logs) to assess the frequency of their reading and writing instruction (30–45 days total). Students (N = 793) completed a performance assessment of their text‐based writing skills. Results showed that the large majority of writing tasks guided students to retrieve isolated facts or engage with surface‐level features of texts in their writing (i.e., were of a low level of cognitive demand). The cognitive demand of text‐based writing assignments predicted multiple features of students' writing performance, including students' ability to reason analytically about texts (effect size [ES] = .46), use evidence to support their claims (ES = .46), and organize their writing (ES = .35), even after controlling for other dimensions of literacy instruction. The quality (grist) of text to which students responded predicted one dimension of students' writing performance, use of evidence to support their claims (ES = .37). Designing cognitively demanding text‐based tasks should be considered an essential part of writing instruction reform and professional development programs for teachers that aim to increase students' writing skills aligned to the Common Core.

Text-Based Writing Assignments for College Readiness

“…Additionally, cognitively demanding tasks have been shown to be effective for increasing the reading skills of all students—even those with low starting achievement (Newmann, Bryk, & Nagaoka, ; Newmann, Marks, & Gamoran, ). More recently, we found that cognitively demanding writing tasks increase students’ ability to compile evidence and substantively organize their ideas in writing, even after controlling for other dimensions of teachers’ reading and writing instruction (Matsumura, Correnti, & Wang, ). Importantly, this was the only classroom or teacher characteristic to have an effect on students’ analytic thinking.…”

“…Unfortunately, cognitively demanding writing assignments are rare. Research shows that students mostly do not have the opportunity to write in ways that require higher level thinking (Gilbert & Graham, ; Matsumura et al., ; Newmann et al., ). In our recent study, for example, we found that only a quarter of the writing assignments we collected in fifth‐grade classrooms required deep understanding of a text and had a high level of cognitive demand (Matsumura et al., ).…”

“…Research shows that students mostly do not have the opportunity to write in ways that require higher level thinking (Gilbert & Graham, ; Matsumura et al., ; Newmann et al., ). In our recent study, for example, we found that only a quarter of the writing assignments we collected in fifth‐grade classrooms required deep understanding of a text and had a high level of cognitive demand (Matsumura et al., ). The purpose of this article is, therefore, to describe the steps that teachers can take to develop or modify text‐based writing assignments so they increase students’ reading and analytic writing skills.…”

Supporting the Argumentative Writing of Students in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: An Action Research Study

“…Researchers have investigated different aspects of analytic text-based writing. Matsumura, Correnti, and Wang (2015) were concerned about the instruction teachers provide in hopes of developing their students' text-based writing skills. Consequently, they investigated the role that writing task quality plays in students' mastery of analytic text-based writing.…”

Written Feedback to Support Students’ Higher Level Thinking About Texts in Writing

“…Teachers of upper elementary grades can help students develop higher level thinking skills about texts by regularly assigning writing tasks that provide opportunities to apply this new and challenging skill (Matsumura, Correnti, & Wang, ). Simply assigning such tasks, however, is insufficient.…”