[Click here to watch a video of Steve Graham discussing his research.]
A new national survey of high school writing instruction finds it lacking, with 50 percent of teachers reporting they are not prepared to teach students how to write well and rarely assign complex writing tasks.
The study by Steve Graham, professor and Currey Ingram Chair of Special Education, was published this spring in the Journal of Educational Psychology.
“The lack of writing and writing instruction was more pronounced in social studies and science, but even language arts teachers provided little writing instruction for their students,” Graham said. “Another disturbing finding was the sizable number of teachers who made few or no adaptations in their teaching efforts to assist weaker writers.”
According to the results, teachers rarely ask high school students to complete assignments that involve writing more than a single paragraph, and most common writing assignments involve little to no analysis or interpretation. Some teachers reported using a variety of effective writing practices, but indicated that the use was infrequent, removing their effectiveness.
“Writing is an important tool for educational, occupational and social success,” Graham said. “Writing instruction needs to be reformed to improve high school student work as well as strengthening the ability for success in college and beyond.”
According to Graham, writing instruction reform must be multi-faceted.
“Students need to be engaged in writing longer compositions that involve analysis and interpretation, teachers should apply evidence-based writing practices and adaptations for struggling writers, teacher education programs and school districts need to better prepare teachers for writing instruction at the high school level,” he said. “All of these recommendations should be tailored to meet the needs of each major discipline.”
Graham is a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development investigator.
For more news about Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development, visit http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu.
Jennie Edwards, jennie.e.edwards@vanderbilt.edu, prepared this report.
Media Contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu