ERIC Number: EJ829242
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Feb
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0663
EISSN: N/A
Teaching Writing to High School Students: A National Survey
Kiuhara, Sharlene A.; Graham, Steve; Hawken, Leanne S.
Journal of Educational Psychology, v101 n1 p136-160 Feb 2009
A random sample of language arts, social studies, and science high school teachers (N = 361; 53% women) from the United States were surveyed about what their students wrote, their use of evidence-based writing practices, the adaptations they made for weaker writers, how they assessed writing, their preparation to teach writing, beliefs about the importance of writing, and judgments about their students' writing capabilities. The findings from this survey raised some concerns about the quality of high school writing instruction. The writing activities they were assigned most frequently by teachers involved little analysis and interpretation, and almost one half of the participating teachers did not assign at least one multiparagraph writing assignment monthly. Although the majority of high school teachers did apply most of the evidence-based practices and adaptations included in the survey, they used these practices infrequently. Most teachers did not believe their college teacher education program adequately prepared them to teach writing. A sizable minority of language arts and social studies teachers indicated that their in-service preparation was inadequate too. For science teachers this was close to 60%. (Contains 7 tables.)
Descriptors: Writing Assignments, High Schools, Teacher Education Programs, Language Arts, Secondary School Teachers, Science Teachers, Social Studies, Writing Instruction, High School Students, English Teachers, Surveys, Student Evaluation, Teaching Skills, Evaluation Methods, Teacher Attitudes, Writing Skills, English Instruction
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org/publications
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A