This study compared the effectiveness of two types of computer software for improving the English writing skills of pupils in a Malaysian primary school. Sixty students who participated in the seven-week training course were divided into two groups, with the experimental group using the StyleWriter software and the control group using the…

This study examined how 30 minutes of search time on the Web affected students' essay scores in response to a writing prompt. Expository essays were obtained from 49 fourth- and fifth-grade students enrolled in an elementary school in Virginia, in the United States. Students were placed by random assignment into three groups with the same writing…

Opportunities to read and analyze others' writing or to observe readers as they analyze writing might enhance one's own sense of audience and improve one's own writing. This mixed-methods study investigated whether reader and observer activities in comparison to writing practice activities affected fifth-grade students' persuasive writing and…

Giftedness has often been equated with being academically talented or being a high achiever in school. However, there is often concern about the gifted students who could be described as unmotivated and underachieving in one or many academic areas. At the Jones Street School, a school for gifted elementary students, the location of this study,…

Problem Statement: The aim of the first five years of primary school is to teach and help the students develop basic skills as stated in the Primary School Language Program and Guide. Creative thinking and intertextual reading are among these skills, and it is important to give these to the students during language courses. Purpose of Study: The…

The current study examines data from students in grades 4-8 who participated in a statewide computer-based benchmark writing assessment that featured automated essay scoring and automated feedback. We examined whether the use of automated feedback was associated with gains in writing quality across revisions to an essay, and with transfer effects…

In this quasi-experimental design study, I investigated the impact of a current summer literacy approach on writing performance and writer self-perception of urban Housing Authority children. In addition, current campers and former CampUs Scholarship recipients provided feedback about personal experiences as well as shared the potential impact of…

French students in grades 4 and 5 in schools around Paris wrote explanatory texts in L1 following a lesson in the Life Sciences, four times over the course of the school year. Each session included written correspondence with another student; half the students (Group G1) made suggestions about ways to improve the drafts of the other half of the…

Effective written expression is a necessary form of communication and one of the most difficult tasks for students with disabilities to master. Few instructional strategies for writing have been validated specifically for students with emotional and behavior disorders. This single-subject study evaluated the effect of a Direct Instruction program…

The purpose of the study was to discover if there exists a statistically significant difference in DSTP student writing scores from spring 2007 third grade to spring 2007 fifth grade student writing scores for students of Delaware Writing Project (DWP) Partnership teachers and students in classrooms with teachers not participating in the DWP…

The ability to express meaning in prose is a foundational skill in our society. Given the importance of being a competent writer, concern with the quality of writing instruction is a recurring theme among American educators (Cutler & Graham, 2008; Gilbert & Graham, 2010; National Commission on Writing, 2003, 2004, 2006). Research shows…

This investigation examined the effects of currently available word prediction software programs that support phonetic/inventive spelling on the quality of journal writing by six students with severe writing and/or spelling difficulties in grades three through six during a month-long summer writing program. A changing conditions single-subject…

Writing is difficult for students who are learning English, as they often struggle to express what they really want to say. Writing is difficult for their teachers, too, who often struggle to respond in ways that are helpful. In this article, the authors offer an approach that looks at students' writing from a functional linguistics perspective,…

The purpose of this study was to examine technical features of new and existing curriculum-based measures of written expression in terms of writing task, duration, and scoring procedures. Twenty-five third-, 43 fifth-, and 55 seventh-graders completed passage-copying tasks in 1.5 min and picture, narrative, and expository writing prompts in 3-7…

Grammar instruction has long been a troubling issue for many language arts teachers. This collaborative research between an elementary classroom teacher and university faculty, based on the assumption that grammar is most effectively taught in reading and writing, looks into the short- and long-term effect of error-based grammar instruction on the…