- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- The effects of a writing-to-learn process journal on sixth grade writing samples, 1989
- Creator:
- Johnson, Regina A.
- Date of Original:
- 1989-12-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- This study investigated the effects of a Writing-To-Learn (WTL) Process Journal on the content/organization and style of sixth graders' writing performance as measured by the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Writing Test. The WTL Process Journal was developed as an advance organizer for the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Writing Test and was validated by a group of middle school teachers and sixth graders. Using an experimental design, 147 subjects from two Atlanta middle schools participated in the study. The experimental group used the WTL Process Journal and the control group used the Silver Burdett English text over a five-day treatment period. On the sixth day, all participants took the state writing assessment. Three null hypotheses were tested in the study. Analyses of the data were made using the T Test statistical tool to determine if there was a significant difference in the writing performance between the two groups on the content/organization and style domains of the state writing test. A third hypothesis sought to determine a significant difference between boys' versus girls' writing performance when both sexes used the WTL Process Journal. The study revealed that: (1) the sample of sixth graders performed similarly to all other sixth graders in the Atlanta Public Schools in overall writing performance on the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Tests; (2) the style variable had the largest percentage of students' papers rated inadequate or minimal for the state, system, and study sample; (3) no significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups on either the content/organization or style variable, and the control group showed slightly higher mean scores; (4) a significant difference was found between the experimental subgroups on the content/organization variable, and (6) a significant difference between the mean scores of boys' versus girls' writing performance was evident for the style variable, although girls tended to have the higher mean scores on overall writing performance, content/organization, and style. The conclusions of the research were that: (1) the WTL Process Journal had no significant effect on the writing performance of sixth graders on either the content/organization or style variable; (2) a positive effect on the writing performance of sixth graders that completed the WTL Process Journal suggested that a more significant effect might have been found, if larger numbers of students in the experimental group had completed the instrument; (3) there was an average or moderate relationship between reading and writing performance, and (4) although girls tended to do better than males on writing performance, significant differences were found by sex for the control group on overall writing performance and style when comparing the experimental group. Since the control group had the higher mean score (only one-tenth difference) for both variables in the study and the subgroups within each school performed so similarly, several possible conclusions could be drawn: (1) that the Silver Burdett materials produced better results than the WTL Process Journal, (2) that by having experimental and control subgroups in the same schools, the Hawthorne Effect might have taken place, (3) that the treatment period was too short to gain maximum benefit from the WTL Process Journal, and (4) that there were significant differences in the quality of the writing instruction that students received during and prior to the research investigation. Further investigation would be needed to make a final determination.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1989_johnson_regina_a
- Rights Holder:
- Clark Atlanta University
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
