Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1982

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Jerry J. Bellon

Committee Members

Janet Handler, Lester Knight, Francis Trusty

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify guidelines for writing instruction as presented in research and professional literature and to determine the occurrence of these guidelines in a selected sample of National Writing Projects. In addition, a pilot survey of Maury County elementary teachers was made in order to determine their writing instruction concerns. Based on the results of the survey, recommendations for writing instruction in Maury County schools were proposed by the author.

A content analysis of a selected sample of National Writing Projects was made in order to determine key features of the projects which were congruent with identified guidelines for writing instruction. Projects sampled were randomly selected by regional distribution from the eighty sites throughout the country. Thirteen National Writing Projects were analyzed in this study. Two levels of analysis were used. The first level was built upon occurrence of categories and units of analysis in each of the thirteen projects sampled. A second level included frequency of occurrence of categories and units of analysis.

A survey of Maury County 1-6 teachers was made in order to determine their concerns about writing instruction. The population sampled was drawn from all schools in Maury County having grades 1-6. Only regular classroom teachers were surveyed. Responses were analyzed using frequencies for most items. Some questions were cross tabulated. Based on the results of the survey, teacher concerns were synthesized and compared for congruence with the results of the content analysis of selected National Writing Projects. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for writing instruction in Maury County schools.

Procedures used in this study can be employed by researchers to analyze other writing programs and to determine the writing concerns of a defined population of teachers. Data from this study can be used by school administrators in planning in-service programs for their school faculties. Recommendations from this study can be used by administrators and teachers in planning their writing instruction programs.

Several conclusions were made from this study. Guidelines for writing instruction are available in research and professional literature and can be found as key features in many of the National Writing Projects. Maury County elementary teachers are concerned about most of the guidelines for writing instruction. These teachers feel only moderately prepared to teach writing and have not had university courses specifically devoted to writing instruction. Several aspects of the National Writing Projects are applicable for writing instruction in elementary schools.

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