Becoming a proficient writer is a core competency for effective communication and central to college and career readiness for learners. Despite broad adoption of more rigorous standards and a push to incorporate writing across the curriculum, the majority of U.S. students across different grade levels fall short of grade-level expectations in…

To date there have been no systematic studies examining the ways in which teachers in England focus and adapt their teaching of writing. The current study addresses this gap by investigating the nature and frequency of teachers' approaches to the teaching of writing in a sample of English primary schools, using the "simple view of…

This study explored American and Portuguese elementary teachers' preferences in planning for literacy instruction using the Language Arts Activity Grid (LAAG; Cunningham, Zibulsky, Stanovich, & Stanovich, 2009), on which teachers described their preferred instructional activities for a hypothetical 2-h language arts block. Portuguese teachers…

This case study explored collaborative writing in Chinese among 59 primary four Chinese students using a "Wiki-based Collaborative Process Writing Pedagogy" (WCPWP) in Shenzhen, China. It aimed mainly to design and orchestrate a WCPWP in order to facilitate students' Chinese writing. It investigated students' collaborative writing…

Teaching is emotional, especially when teachers must change their practices. Past research on emotions and change in the general population has been predominately quantitative. Research about teachers' emotions, however, has been predominately qualitative. To draw on both these approaches, this mixed methods study examined 50 elementary teachers'…

The purpose of this action research project is to motivate elementary students in writing, specifically in the areas of creativity, detail, and accuracy. The teacher researchers wanted to develop self-motivated and knowledgeable writers. This project was conducted from September 2nd, 2008 to January 30th, 2009. The targeted students enjoyed…

Strategies are actions and behaviours used by the writer to solve problems in the writing process. These actions and behaviours reflect four clusters: meta-cognitive, cognitive, social, and affective processes. The goal of the overall study with 352 children was to check the effect of strategy usage on written output. Three research windows were…

Background: This study evaluated the impact on student's writing ability of a structured writing program, called "Writing Wings," for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders developed by the Success For All Foundation (SFAF). Writing is a critical skill for success in school. Purpose: The study was intended to answer one confirmatory question,…

This study was conducted to gather evidence regarding effects of the mode of writing (handwritten vs. word-processed) on compositional quality in a sample of sixth grade students. Questionnaire data and essay scores were gathered to examine the effect of composition mode on essay scores of students of differing computer skill levels. The study was…

This "Writers' Handbook" was prepared in response to the many requests for "a book that tells how to write textbooks and other educational materials for schools." These requests have come from educators of other countries as well as from the United States. The authors believe that the handbook holds valuable information and suggestions for heads…