A Research Synthesis (Executive Summary)

Background and Purpose

Personal and expository writing are powerful means of expression and, during the last 15 years, researchers in the field of special education have made great strides in opening this creative vista to students with learning disabilities. This progress has come as special education researchers have developed new methods for teaching an array of writing techniques to children with learning disabilities.

To find better ways to teach writing to children with learning disabilities, researchers have looked to proficient writers as models. How is it that proficient writers actually plan, organize, and carry out the difficult and typically introspective task of expressive writing?

This report synthesizes recent findings of research on expressive writing. Included in this research report, or meta-analysis, were 11 expressive writing group studies that enrolled a total of 436 children in grades three to nine. The express purpose of each of the studies reviewed was to teach students to be better writers.

Findings

Overall, the investigators had clear evidence that the instructional writing interventions used in the 11 studies led to significant improvements in the quality of students' writing. The strategies that the various investigators used improved the expressive skills of students with learning disabilities, and the effects of these interventions were quite large.

What are the common features of a successful strategy for teaching expressive writing?

Most of the successful interventions follow a basic framework of three phases: Planning, Writing, and Revision. Students are given explicit strategies and instructions about how to conduct each phase.

The critical phases in the writing process are taught explicitly. As part of this instruction, students may be given think sheets or mnemonics (a strategy for remembering critical writing steps). In the most effective interventions, teachers demonstrate and model how to use these items.

Teachers demonstrated how to write particular types of expressive text. Different types of writing require different organization and context. Persuasive writing is organized differently and has a different structure than narrative writing. Students are taught to write within these different styles. Teachers provided explicit examples.

Teachers and/or peers provided frequent feedback about the quality of the work, missing elements, and strengths of the written product. In one approach, a community of writers is fostered within the classroom. Lots of discussion about writing occurs, ideas are shared, and feedback is provided. Teachers try to reach all students in these writing communities, but peers have also been used successfully in these groups.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of the meta-analysis, the researchers make several recommendations for the future. Efforts must be made to incorporate the three critical components of expressive writing instruction into the general and special education classrooms. They are:

• Teaching the critical steps of the writing process explicitly, possibly using a think sheet or mnemonic card, and having teachers demonstrate each of these three important steps: planning, writing, and revision.
• Explicit teaching of how to write different types of expressive text. The more explicit the examples, the more effectively students learn these writing conventions.
• Providing feedback about the quality of work, missing pieces, and the strength of their work. Feedback from a teacher or peer helps students develop writing style.

Increasing evidence also suggests the importance of teaching skills such as spelling and punctuation in conjunction with skills such as organization, text structure, and revision techniques. Children with learning disabilities have problems with both types of skills, and teaching them in tandem seems to be beneficial. According to one theory, the less a child has to concentrate on the mechanics of writing, the more time and effort can be spent on more complex tasks such as planning, composing, and revising.

Several other research issues will be highlighted in years to come. One potentially interesting and important area is the question of whether dictation should be used as a possible bridge to better writing. For some students, especially those who have difficulties with spelling and punctuation, dictation to an adult may produce higher-quality content. It is hoped that successful dictation would eventually lead to better independent writing.

Do improvements in writing skills transfer to other academic subjects? Researchers are calling increasingly for strategies in special education that encourage students to think about what they are writing in ways that generalize, or transfer, these skills.

This document was prepared for the Keys to Successful Learning Summit held in May 1999 in Washington, D.C. Keys to Successful Learning is an ongoing collaboration sponsored by the National Center for Learning Disabilities in partnership with the Office of Special Education Programs (US Department of Education) and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (National Institutes of Health).

Authors: Russell Gersten, Ph.D., and Scott Baker, Ph.D. Eugene Research Institute, University of Oregon With Lana Edwards, University of Oregon.

The purpose of this initiative is to translate research and policy on learning disabilities into high standards for learning and achievement in the classroom, and to take action at the local, state and federal levels to ensure that all students, including those with learning disabilities, are afforded the highest quality education.

Keys to Successful Learning is supported by a coalition of national and regional funders as well as a broad range of participating education organizations.