Linda H. Mason

Improving the Writing, Knowledge, and Motivation of Struggling Young Writers: Effects of Self-Regulated Strategy Development With and Without Peer Support

Writing development involves changes that occur in children’s strategic behavior, knowledge, and motivation. The authors examined the effectiveness of self-regulated strategy development (SRSD), a strategy instructional model designed to promote development in each of these areas. Instruction focused on planning and writing stories and persuasive essays. The addition of a peer support component to SRSD instruction aimed at facilitating maintenance and generalization effects was also examined. SRSD had a positive impact on the writing performance and knowledge of struggling second-grade writers attending urban schools serving a high percentage of low-income families. In comparison with children in the Writers’ Workshop condition, SRSD-instructed students were more knowledgeable about writing and evidenced stronger performance in the two instructed genres (story and persuasive writing) as well as two uninstructed genres (personal narrative and informative writing). Moreover, the peer support component augmented SRSD instruction by enhancing specific aspects of students’ performance in both the instructed and uninstructed genres.

Explicit Self-Regulated Strategy Development Versus Reciprocal Questioning: Effects on Expository Reading Comprehension Among Struggling Readers.

The effects of 2 rigorous strategic approaches to reading comprehension for 32 5th-grade students who struggle with reading were investigated. The first approach, TWA (Think before reading, think While reading, think After reading), was taught following explicit self-regulated strategy development instructional procedures (K. R. Harris & S. Graham, 1999). The second approach, reciprocal questioning (RQ), was taught following Cooperative ReQuest procedures developed by A. V. Manzo, U. C. Manzo, and T. H. Estes (2001). Compared with RQ students, TWA students improved significantly (with medium to large effect sizes) on 5 oral reading comprehension measures. There were no significant differences, however, between groups on 3 written comprehension measures, self-efficacy, or motivation. Students were positive about each intervention.

Teaching Spelling in the Primary Grades: A National Survey of Instructional Practices and Adaptations

Primary grade teachers randomly selected from across the United Sates completed a survey (N = 168) that examined their instructional practices in spelling and the types of adaptations they made for struggling spellers. Almost every single teacher surveyed reported teaching spelling, and the vast majority of respondents implemented a complex and multifaceted instructional program that applied a variety of research-supported procedures. Although some teachers were sensitive to the instructional needs of weaker spellers and reported making many different adaptations for these students, a sizable minority of teachers (42%) indicated they made few or no adaptations. In addition, the teachers indicated that 27% of their students experienced difficulty with spelling, calling into question the effectiveness of their instruction with these children.

Developing Self-Regulated Writers.

T INCLUSION OF STUDENTS with learning disabilities (e.g., resource students) in state-mandated accountability testing is standard in many U.S. schools. General and special education teachers strive to ensure that all students are able to complete the required writing components. Nonetheless, the writing difficulties of students with learning disabilities when compared to their non-disabled peers are well documented in the literature (Englert et al., 1991; Graham, Harris, MacArthur, & Schwartz, 1991; Wong, 1998). These students produce writing that is shorter, less cohesive, and poorer in overall quality. In addition, they have demonstrated a progressively more negative attitude towards writing (Harris & Graham, 1999). With these problems in mind, it is not surprising that author Linda Mason was anxious about the inclusion of her class of third-grade written language resource students in state-selected random testing groups. These students had been placed in groups—separated from their general classroom teacher, resource teacher, and peers—for practice testing weeks before the actual testing dates. After the first practice testing session, one of the third grade teachers asked Linda, “What is a Ms. Mason paragraph?” Apparently, two resource students had asked this teacher if they could write a paragraph the same way they had practiced in the resource classroom. When given permission to do so, the students wrote paragraphs equivalent to the paragraphs written by an average peer. The writing instruction utilized in Ms. Mason’s resource classroom included Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) (Harris & Graham, 1996), which focuses on the development of composition and self-regulation strategies in tandem. One goal of SRSD, which includes imbedding selfregulation procedures (e.g., self-instructions, goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement) within strategy development, is to make the use of strategies automatic, routine, and flexible. Ms. Mason’s students had been able to internalize and generalize their writing strategies effectively enough to perform an unfamiliar writing task successfully during practice testing. These students with writing disabilities had learned a structure, a “trick,” for writing. Although the students in Ms. Mason’s class had diagnosed writing disabilities, difficulties with writing are not limited to students with special needs. Writing is not effortless or easy for most people. It is a highly complex and demanding task that requires that a number of skills be performed simultaneously. Writers must negotiate rules and mechanics while maintaining a focus on the overall organization, form and features, purposes and Karen R. Harris and Steve Graham are professors, Linda H. Mason is a faculty research assistant, and Bruce Saddler is a doctoral candidate, all at the University of Maryland.

Developing Quick Writing Skills of Middle School Students With Disabilities

Two multiple-baseline, across-participants design studies were used to examine persuasive quick write (10-minute writing responses) performance of seventh-grade students with disabilities. In the first study, 6 students were taught by a graduate research assistant; in the second study, 10 students were taught by their special education teacher. In both studies, students’ written responses were evaluated before, during, and after self-regulated strategy development instruction for the POW + TREE planning strategy (POW: pick my idea, organize my notes, write and say more; TREE: topic sentence, reasons—three or more, explain, ending). All study participants improved in the number of persuasive parts included and the quality of the written response immediately after and weeks following instruction.

Self-Regulated Strategy Development for Students With Writing Difficulties

Students with writing difficulties often struggle with the planning, composing, and revising skills required for effective writing. Fortunately, researchers have documented that explicit, interactive, scaffolded development of powerful composing strategies and strategies for self-regulating the writing process, as in Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction, results in improved student performance across writing genres. In addition, SRSD has had significant and meaningful effects among students with learning disabilities (LD) in both elementary and secondary settings. In this article, examples of SRSD instruction for planning, composing, and revision are described. Promising findings of recent research for students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are also highlighted. Finally, tips for effective classroom implementation are provided.

Self-Regulated Strategy Development Instruction for Expository Text Comprehension

acquisition of reading skills demonstrate inefficient application of reading strategies and poor background knowledge (Baker & Brown, 1984). In addition, they often lack the metacognitive strategies required to comprehend texts, not only in language arts/literature classes, but also in the content areas. Knowing this, Ms. Smith began her reading session by asking Olivia, a fourth-grade student with a learning disability in reading, to complete a reading self-efficacy questionnaire (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997).

Examining Effects of Writing Interventions: Highlighting Results for Students With Primary Disabilities Other Than Learning Disabilities

Writing is an important foundational skill, critical for success in school. Unfortunately, many students, including students with disabilities, have difficulties with written language production. These students lack knowledge of writing processes and employ deficient strategies for organization, planning, goal implementation, and self-regulation. The majority of research for students with disabilities has focused on students with learning disabilities (LD). Less is known about writing instruction with students with primary disabilities other than LD. The purpose of this review, therefore, is to investigate writing interventions for students diagnosed with primary disabilities other than LD and to ascertain if interventions benefit these specific student populations. Of 15 studies, 13 used self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instruction and 2 studies blended SRSD components within other intervention packages. Results indicate that SRSD has promise for students with primary disabilities other than LD. Implications for research and practice are noted.

Effects of Quick Writing Instruction for High School Students With Emotional Disturbances

High school students with emotional disturbances (ED) often struggle with classroom writing tasks. In this study, the effectiveness of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction for 10 min timed persuasive quick writes with three high school students with ED was investigated. Results indicated improvement in the areas of quality, response parts, and word count. The acceptability of treatment was positive as indicated by student interviews. Implications for SRSD quick writing for high school students with ED are discussed.

Persuading students with emotional disabilities to write: a design study

An exploratory study was undertaken to examine the implementation of strategy instruction in persuasive writing with a class of 10 adolescent students with severe emotional/behavioral disabilities (EBD). Several learner characteristics were observed to interact with curriculum and instructional variables. Modifications were made, on an ongoing basis, to respond to these student characteristics. After approximately four months of instruction, findings indicated that all students had mastered the components of effective persuasive essay writing, and performed competently on criterion writing measures, greatly different from performance at the beginning of instruction. Although the design of this investigation does not allow for definitive causal explanations, insights were gained regarding the interaction between EBD characteristics and strategy instruction. Implications for further research are discussed.