A comparison of the Garrison method and the traditional method of teaching composition in a community college

The purpose of this study was to compare the Garrison tutorial method of teaching freshman composition and the traditional method of teaching freshman composition in a community college. The study is not to be considered primarily a study of how to teach composition, but rather a report concerned with the relative effectiveness of two different teaching techniques used in teaching college freshman English. The investigation was conducted at Walters State Community College, Morristown, Tennessee, during the Fall Quarter of the school year 1978-79. −In order to determine the results of the use of the Garrison method of instruction to teach writing, the researcher formulated and tested the following hypothesis for significance at the .05 level:

There is no significant difference in achievement as measured by the post-test scores between students who had the Garrison tutorial method of teaching composition and students who had the traditional teacher-directed method of teaching composition in the community college.

To prepare to use the Garrison method of teaching freshman composition, the researcher and another member of the Walters State Community College English Department iv

attended the sixth annual special institute for community college English instructors who teach composition: HOW TO TEACH WRITING--BETTER, July 9-22, 1978, at Westbrook College, Portland, Maine, under the direction of Roger H. Garrison.

The Solomon Four Group Design was used as the research design for the study. Four composition classes were involved in the study: two experimental sections taught by the instructor trained in the Garrison method and two control sections taught by two instructors randomly selected from the full-time faculty. Prior to the first print-out of the class roll, all names of students scheduled for English at 8 a.m. on Monday-Wednesday- Friday were randomly selected for English l0l0 classes. Each of the four classes of twenty-five students was then randomly assigned to a specific function according to the Solomon Four Group Design (R1, R2, R3, R4). The experimental class designated as R1 was pre-tested, treated, and posttested; the control class designated as R2 was pre- and post-tested; the experimental class designated as R3 was treated and post-tested; and the control class designated as R4 was post-tested.

The pre-test measurement consisted of the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress, Writing, Form A, and a timed writing sample. The post-test measurement consisted of the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress, Writing, Form B, and a timed writing sample. T The pre- and postwriting samples were randomly grouped and graded anonymously by three graduate students with a Master's degree in English at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.

After the Garrison method of instruction was used Fall Quarter 1978 at Walters State Community College, Morristown, Tennessee, data gathered in accordance with the Solomon Four Group Design were analyzed to reveal that significant changes did occur through the Garrison treatment. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected.