Teaching Writing to Elementary School Learners - A Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58213/ell.v2i2.26Keywords:
Writing, meta-analysis, intervention, composition, elementary, schoolAbstract
The majority of students in the Netherlands, as well as in other countries, are unable to write at a high enough level by the end of elementary school, according to research. The time allotted to writing is extremely constrained, and only a small percentage of institutions are successful in imparting this skill effectively. There is little doubt that the way writing is taught in elementary schools has to be improved upon. In order to uncover effective techniques to teaching writing to kids in grades 4 to 6, a study of writing intervention studies was conducted. There were eleven intervention categories: strategy teaching, text structure instruction, prewriting activities, peer aid, grammar instruction; feedback; evaluation; process approach; goal setting; and revision. Each intervention category had its average impact size computed. Five of the 10 categories had statistically significant results. In a pairwise comparison of these categories, goal setting (ES = 2.03) was found to be the most effective intervention for improving students' writing performance, followed by strategy instruction (ES =.96), text structure instruction (ES =.76), peer assistance (ES =.59), and feedback (ES =.88), all of which were found to be effective. Finding out how these therapies may be applied in the classrooms of primary school students will require further research.
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