This paper has investigated the importance of explicit instruction and collaborative writing on (a) argumentative writing performance and (b) self-efficacy for writing of secondary school students. This intervention study additionally aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of alternating between individual and collaborative writing throughout the…

In the last decade, researchers have focused more on how to provide instructional supports for mathematics writing (Powell et al., 2017). In this synthesis, we examined 22 studies about mathematics writing to determine the overall mathematics-writing and mathematics outcomes of mathematics-writing instruction, the mathematics-writing and…

As evidenced by national data, a large proportion of students in middle school, content area classrooms in the United States (U.S.) may be considered developing readers. Evidence-based literacy practices and explicit instructional practices can support these students' literacy development. Yet, research suggests that teachers often miss…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how kindergarten teachers teach writing and their beliefs about writing instruction using survey methodology. Participants in this study included 78 kindergarten teachers in the United States. Results revealed that most kindergarten teachers used a balanced approach to writing instruction,…

Writing is essential for communication in literate societies, and its successful acquisition and development is central to academic achievement. Beginning in early childhood, preschool-age children gradually develop componential skills within the domains of handwriting, spelling, and composing that ultimately enable them to translate thoughts and…

SRSD interventions on writing have shown to be effective across a myriad of contexts and populations. Less is known, however, about their effectiveness for improving the writing skills of disadvantaged children, relative to their efficacy with other types of students. This is important, because low-SES children have been found to often display…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two types of historical problem-solving instruction with advanced urban high school students' (N = 231) ability to reason with and contextualize historical evidence. Contextualization is a critical heuristic in the process of disciplinary thinking among historians. Yet, prior research…

We contacted a random sample of 900 elementary teachers (grades K-5) in the United States to inquire about their use of writing to support students' learning of classroom content or concepts. Characteristics (i.e., grade level, public v. private school, school locale, school enrollment) of the 150 teachers who responded to our survey were not…

Developing writing skills is a central part of the education curriculum in many countries, yet numerous children have difficulties in producing written texts. To our knowledge there is no systematic study examining the ways in which Greek teachers adapt their writing instruction strategies to accommodate the children's needs. The aim of the…

Argumentative writing has long been considered an essential skill for disciplinary learning. For researchers and curriculum developers to develop ecologically valid instructional approaches to argumentative writing, a pivotal prerequisite is the understanding of how teachers use various instructional methods in tandem to teach different…

The principal aim of strategy-focused instruction is to teach students strategies to control their writing processes and achieve quality writing. For this purpose, nine 4th grade Elementary School classes from three different schools (N = 215) were randomly allocated to two forms of strategy-focused program called cognitive self-regulation…

This study investigates the possibility that solitary dialog, in which individuals construct in writing a hypothetical dialogic argument, may more fully reveal individual skill achievement in argument than do conventional argumentive essays. A sample of 54 11-12-year-old Chinese students individually composed such written dialogs, subsequent to…

Text generation--the mental translation of ideas into language at word, sentence, and discourse levels--involves oral language abilities. However, oral language skills are rarely a target of writing interventions. We ran an intervention to improve fifth and 10th graders' written production through the development of oral sentence generation…

This study examined the effectiveness of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) to improve students' ability to write expository essays after reading social studies text. Third-grade general education teachers (N = 14) were randomly assigned by clusters to SRSD or a business as usual control condition. One hundred and eighty consented students…

Writing skills are crucial for high school students' academic, social, and professional success in Brazil. Developing the ability to write, however, is a demanding process that requires considerable support from teachers. The purpose of this study was to survey the population of high school language arts teachers in two Brazilian states about…