While understanding the concept of audience is an important step in learning to write, few studies have explored how student writers conceptualize audience in academic and nonacademic settings. This dissertation explores how college students enrolled in a first-year composition course conceptualize and operationalize audience and examines how the…

Elementary students often struggle with their writing skills, particularly in the areas of focus and organization. These problems can make it difficult for teachers to find effective methods for improvement. This project will delve into some causes of this deficit and explore its consequences on academic performance and future educational…

Educational leaders and teachers interested in improving instructional practice in writing may want to consider examining what strategies are currently used by teachers who instruct students identified as economically disadvantaged. The present study used a single-site intrinsic case study design to examine Blue Creek High School, a school with an…

The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the writing instruction of teachers in ninth grade English and Social Studies classes at DMV High School, a private school in which students matriculate from over one hundred different feeder schools. The participants and collaborators in cycle 1 were teachers and student in a sampling…

Using case study and cross-case qualitative analyses, the researcher explored the utilization of wordless picture books as mentor texts with young multilingual learners in second grade. Eight students participated in the study and four focus students were highlighted through case studies. The researcher implemented three, 45-minutes lessons per…

In this dissertation, I present two studies on transnational, multilingual undergraduate students which focus on students' rich, complex communication patterns across contexts. First, I examine the linguistic, literate, rhetorical, and cultural resources they deploy to make meaning across non-academic contexts as they take care of everyday tasks,…

This descriptive, mixed methods research study examined how elementary teachers describe their writing instruction. One hundred and sixty-eight elementary teachers from across the Commonwealth of Virginia completed a survey about their writing instruction. Additionally, I interviewed 16 teachers, two teachers from each of the eight superintendent…

Many patterns found in natural language syntax have multiple possible explanations or structural descriptions. Even within the currently dominant Minimalist theoretical framework (Chomsky 1995, 2000), it is not uncommon to encounter multiple analyses for the same phenomenon proposed in the literature. A natural question, then, is whether one could…

This study investigates the effectiveness of writing instruction within the Saudi EFL context, and its alignment with students' future needs and Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 goals. Two schools located in two different regions with different disciplinary foci were selected for this study. Three study tools were identified to assess the writing…

Many students across the US, specifically in Texas, struggle with writing on grade level. On the last National Assessment of Educational Progress (2012), 70% of eighth- and twelfth-grade students were not writing on grade level. On the 2021 State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) Writing, only 26% of the fourth grade students met…

Students in the United States continue to struggle with explaining math concepts or their solutions to math problems, despite knowing how to solve the problems. Compared to other nations, these students have been shown to perform lower in math on state tests, specifically on portions where they have to engage in mathematical writing. The research…

Educators play an important role in ensuring that students attain the necessary strategic actions to become skilled writers. Studies have indicated that teachers need to consistently embed a larger range of evidence-based writing practices in their instruction to help their students improve the overall quantity and quality of their writing. The…

National standardized test scores indicate West Virginia students perform below the national average in writing achievement, yet little research has been conducted to investigate how writing is being taught. Gaining understanding of the instructional strategies West Virginia teachers use to teach writing may provide insight for educational leaders…

This research project aims to understand the multimodal composing practices and social relationships within the context of my third-grade writing workshop when an alternate approach to teaching writing is employed. This alternate approach disrupts a traditional workshop as the theory of writing is changed to a theory of making in a multimodal…

This study investigated how English language writers in a Chinese university were able to paraphrase following instruction with an online module. Participants were separated into two groups: Group A (Individuals) and Group B (Dyads). They were then trained and assessed in their ability to complete paraphrasing tasks with a pre and posttest.…