Teaching writing to high school students: A national survey.

Abstract

A random sample of language arts, social studies, and science high school teachers (N = 361; 53% women) from the United States were surveyed about what their students wrote, their use of evidence-based writing practices, the adaptations they made for weaker writers, how they assessed writing, their preparation to teach writing, beliefs about the importance of writing, and judgments about their students’ writing capabilities. The findings from this survey raised some concerns about the quality of high school writing instruction. The writing activities they were assigned most frequently by teachers involved little analysis and interpretation, and almost one half of the participating teachers did not assign at least one multiparagraph writing assignment monthly. Although the majority of high school teachers did apply most of the evidence-based practices and adaptations included in the survey, they used these practices infrequently. Most teachers did not believe their college teacher education program adequately prepared them to teach writing. A sizable minority of language arts and social studies teachers indicated that their in-service preparation was inadequate too. For science teachers this was close to 60%.

Investigating EFL Teachers' Familiarity with Effective Writing Approaches in Jordan

“…It is important to mention that these findings are consistent with the results reported in previous studies, like those of Graham and Perin (2007); Kiuhara, Graham, and Hawkin (2009);Ahlsen and Lundh (2008); McCarthey and Ro (2011); Grisham andWolsey (2011), andHaddad (2014). Most of their findings agree with the results of this research.…”

“…They recommended that professional development for writing instruction be enhanced. Kiuhara, Graham, and Hawkin (2009) found that the most common writing activities that students engaged in were writing short answer responses to homework, responding to and summarizing the material they read, and completing worksheets,. The study revealed that these activities involved little extended analysis, interpretations or the process of writing.…”

Using Writing Tasks to Elicit Adolescents’ Historical Reasoning

“…A more recent survey lends some insight into the nature of writing in many classes. Kiuhara, Graham, and Hawken (2009) found that when teachers assign writing in history classrooms, the focus typically involves summary of information. Yet a focus on summary writing in history inhibits students' historical reasoning because history is interpretive and relies on the reconciliation of multiple sources of evidence.…”

Relationship between Legible Handwriting and Level of Success of Third Grade Students in Written Expression

“…In the past, legible and stylish handwriting has been an indicator of one's level of education and his/her social status (Blazer 2010). Although today it is generally thought that cursive slant handwriting has started to lose its importance (Blazer, 2010;Armstrong, 2014;Puranik et al, 2014), teaching of handwriting skills especially in primary and secondary school programs keeps its importance despite arguments over the style of writing (cursive or manuscript) (Graham et al, 2014;Kiuhara et al 2009;Schwellnus et al 2012;Sharp & Titus, 2016;Ziviani & Watson-Will, 1998).…”