High school writing teacher self-efficacy has suffered because the workload and emotional energy of grading papers is arduous, and despite their efforts to provide formative written feedback, many teachers believe students ignore or misunderstand it. Although audio feedback holds promise for improving the clarity of instructor feedback and the self-efficacy of writing instructors in higher education, its usefulness for improving high school teacher self-efficacy has remained unexplored. This multiple case study investigated how high school teachers believed Kaizena, a digital audio feedback technology, influenced their writing instruction and self-efficacy. Participants, who were drawn from the global Kaizena user base, included a user group of 3 United States teachers and a user group of 3 international teachers to determine how both groups used Kaizena and whether differences in use occurred in either environment. Data sources included individual teacher interviews, participant journals, and artifacts such as teacher-created writing assignments and rubrics. Data analysis included both single case and cross case analyses. Single case analysis included coding and categorizing of interview and participant journal data and content analysis of artifacts. Cross case analysis included identifying emerging themes and discrepant data. Results indicated that all 6 teachers both believed they gave more high quality, personalized feedback to students in less time with the audio feature of Kaizena than with written feedback and did, in fact, provide documents confirming this higher quality. As a result, using Kaizena positively influenced their self-efficacy. This study contributes to positive social change by providing insights into a feedback tool that could improve high school writing instruction.

This study addressed the issue of struggling student writers in a K-5 rural elementary school. This phenomenological study, based on social constructivist theory, investigated elementary teachers' experiences to determine effective writing strategies. Six teachers who had taught writing in the elementary grades for 5 consecutive years volunteered to participate in the study. All teachers participated in a focus group, and 2 teachers provided additional data via individual interviews. Member-checking was used to ensure trustworthiness of data. The data were analyzed; emerging themes developed categories and, through horizonalization and triangulation, gaps in writing instruction were revealed. Analysis from the teachers' perspectives led to key factors which contribute to successful writing instruction, incorporate more writing instruction school-wide, promote unity of teachers for planning and discussion of writing instruction, and use curriculum plans in writing instruction that leads to enhanced student success. This study sought to provide teachers with strategies for developing efficient writing instruction for students using a 9-week curriculum writing guide. This study will improve teachers' skills and lead to enhanced writing instruction and student learning by making connections between enriched teacher experiences; this study will also provide insights into the design and delivery of more effective writing instruction that creates local-to-global changes in student writing success.

The aim of my study is to investigate if and in that case how the writing process and texts written by students in the upper secondary school are affected by the writing tool; does it matter if they write their texts on a computer or by longhand? Another objective is to compare such an effect with the findings of previous studies performed on earlier generations of writers. The first part of my study was a survey. It showed that two thirds of the 67 students participating thought that they would have written better texts in the national writing test if they had been able to use computers. In the second part of the study each of the fourteen participants wrote one text on computer and another by hand. Unlike the findings of earlier studies that I compared with, these students had a higher writing speed and spent significantly less time to produce their texts. This result could indicate that the students of today not only are accustomed to computers but also are unfamiliar with writing by hand. Furthermore this study, like previous studies, did not show any statistic proof of a correlation between a specific writing tool and the quality of the written text. Hence it did not support the opinion that the students of today have a disadvantage when they have to write their national test by hand. On the other hand the study indicated that such disadvantage still could be the fact for some individuals. Three of the participants took part in the third part of the study where they produced two more texts; one by hand and the other on computer. Their writing processes were recorded and the analyses indicate an individual variation in whether the writing tool had an effect on the writing process and quality of texts. / Syftet med min undersökning är att undersöka om och i så fall hur gymnasieelevers skrivprocesser och texter påverkas av om de skriver för hand eller på dator, men också att jämföra en eventuell påverkan med den som har konstaterats för tidigare generationer av datoranvändare. Bakgrundsenkäten i den första delundersökningen visade att två tredjedelar av de 67 elever trodde att de skulle ha skrivit bättre texter på det nationella provet i svenska om de hade fått använda dator. I den andra delundersökningen medverkade fjorton av gymnasieeleverna genom att skriva två texter, en för hand och en på dator. Ett resultat som skilde sig från dem i de tidigare studier jag jämförde med var att deltagarna skrev snabbare och under kortare tid när de använde dator. Resultatet tyder på att dagens gymnasieelever inte bara är datorvana utan kanske också ovana att skriva för hand. I likhet med tidigare undersökningar visade delundersökningen inte en statistiskt signifikant kvalitetsskillnad mellan deltagarnas datorskrivna och handskrivna texter. Gymnasieelevernas farhågor om att textkvaliteten skulle ha försämrats av att de tvingades skriva det nationella provet för hand fick därmed inget stöd. Samtidigt visade studien att för enskilda individer skulle det faktiskt kunna förhålla sig så. Tre av deltagarna medverkade även i den tredje delundersökningen, där deras skrivprocesser dokumenterades i samband med att de skrev ytterligare en text på dator och en för hand. Resultatet av den andra delundersökningen pekar mot att skrivverktygets påverkan på skrivprocessen och även på texternas kvalitet skulle kunna variera från person till person.

Wissenschaftliches Schreiben ist eine sehr komplexe Aufgabe, die eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Aktivitäten umfasst. Viele Studierende haben jedoch Schwierigkeiten, die damit verbundenen Anforderungen selbständig zu bewältigen. Im Mittelpunkt des Interesses der vorliegenden Arbeit stand daher die Entwicklung und Evaluation interaktiver computerbasierter Trainingsaufgaben, die Studienanfänger beim Erwerb von Grundkompetenzen des wissenschaftlichen Schreibens unterstützen. Zentrale Anliegen dieser Arbeit waren: (a) die psychologisch begründete Entwicklung einer computerbasierten Schreibumgebung für das wissenschaftliche Schreiben, (b) die theoretisch und methodisch begründete (Weiter-)Entwicklung von Instrumenten zur Untersuchung der Bedingungen und Wirkungen der Schreibumgebung und (c) die empirische Überprüfung der lern- und motivationspsychologischen Wirkungen des Arbeitens mit der Schreibumgebung. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wird aus theoretischen Überlegungen und Modellen zum Schreibprozess bzw. zum Textverstehen ein integratives Modell des wissenschaftlichen Schreibens abgeleitet. Auf dieser Grundlage wird eine prototypische Trainingsumgebung entwickelt und formativ evaluiert. Anhand der Ergebnisse der formativen Evaluation wird der Prototyp zur Schreibumgebung „escribo“ weiterentwickelt. Diese Schreibumgebung setzt systematisch empirisch bestätigte Schreibstrategien um. Somit werden die Schreibenden in ihrem Schreibprozess kognitiv und metakognitiv unterstützt und angeleitet. Zur Untersuchung individueller Einflussgrößen auf den Schreibprozess werden im zweiten Teil der Arbeit verschiedene Fragebögen, z.B. zu motivationalen Aspekten beim wissenschaftlichen Schreiben entwickelt. Weiterhin wird ein verhaltensorientierter Fragebogen zu Strategien beim akademischen Schreiben (FSAS) konzipiert und hinsichtlich seiner Struktur sowie Reliabilität überprüft. Die Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie mit zwei Messzeitpunkten zur Wirkung der Schreibumgebung weisen darauf hin, dass das Arbeiten mit der Schreibumgebung einer Übungssituation überlegen ist: Zum Messzeitpunkt 1 z.B. schrieben die Versuchspersonen mit computerbasierter Schreibunterstützung besser verständliche Texte. Daraus lässt sich der Schluss ziehen, dass es unter folgenden Bedingungen möglich ist, wissenschaftliches Schreiben computerbasiert zu fördern: Der komplexe Schreibprozess muss aufgebrochen werden, um die Anforderungen des wissenschaftlichen Schreibens transparent machen zu können. Außerdem sollten empirische und theoretische Erkenntnisse systematisch genutzt werden, um angemessene Strategien gezielt fördern zu können. / Academic writing is a complex task that involves a variety of cognitive and metacognitive activities. However, many university students perceive academic writing as an ill-defined task which, as a consequence, leads to feelings of incompetence and frustration. Thus, the purpose of the research presented here was to develop and evaluate interactive web-based training exercises to support students’ acquisition of basic writing competences. The main concerns include the: (a) development of a psychologically sound computer-based writing environment for academic writing; (b) development and enhancement of theoretically and methodologically sound instruments to study conditions and effects of such a writing environment; and (c) empirical investigation of the effects of working with the writing environment on achievement and motivation. In the first part of the dissertation an integrative model of academic writing is derived from theoretical considerations and models of the writing process as well as text comprehension. On this basis, a prototype of the writing environment is developed and evaluated in a pilot study. The results of the pilot study were used to design the writing environment “escribo”. This writing environment systematically applies empirically proven writing strategies. As a result, students receive cognitive and meta-cognitive support in their writing. To investigate individual influences on the writing process, various questionnaires, e.g. on motivational aspects of writing, were developed in the second part of the research presented here. Furthermore, a behaviour-oriented questionnaire on strategies in academic writing (FSAS) was designed and assessed regarding its structure and reliability. An empirical study using two measuring values was carried out to determine the effects of the writing environment. Its results show that there is some evidence that working with the writing environment is superior to a situation without any support; in session 1, for example, students supported by “escribo” wrote texts with a better readability compared to students working without support. Therefore, it can be concluded that such a computer-based writing environment can foster the acquisition of basic competencies in academic writing. This holds true only, if the following prerequisites are met. Firstly, the complexity of the writing process has to be broken up in order to make the demands of academic writing transparent. Secondly, theoretical and empirical findings should be used systematically to foster adequate writing strategies.

The aim of the study at hand is to generate knowledge about what pupils aged nine to ten years old need to discern in order to develop the ability to write stories with a well-developed, exciting and coherent plot, and how teaching can make it possible for the pupils to develop this ability. The theoretical framework has been Variation Theory. It is a theory of learning that focuses on how discernment of aspects affects the way we perceive our world and how variation can be used to promote learning. A basic assumption is that we learn by seeing differences, not by seeing sameness. Learning Study was used to answer the research questions. It is an interventionist approach, where the focus is on an object of learning, in this case the ability to write stories with a well-developed, exciting and coherent plot. In the research process the aim was to find out which aspects were critical for the pupils to discern in order to develop the ability, and how these could be made visible in the teaching. Together with a group of teachers, lessons were planned, implemented, evaluated and refined in an iterative process. Interview data, pupils’ texts written before and after the lessons and video recordings from the lessons were the basis of the analysis. It was found that in order for these learners to handle the object of learning, they needed to discern eight critical aspects that can be related to two different areas: (a) discerning the perspective of a reader and (b) seeing that a plot consists of several problems and solutions. The aspects were made discernible by using contrast as a pedagogical tool. The result of the study contributes to previous research by identifying and specifying what the pupils need to discern, what it means in a classroom setting and how it can be taught in a powerful way.

abstract: With Common Core State Standards (CCSS), all students are held to the same high expectations, including students learning English and other learners who may have academic difficulties. Many students learning English have trouble writing and need effective writing strategies to meet the demands the standards present. Ten fourth and fifth grade students learning English (6 girls and 4 boys), whose home language was Spanish, participated in a multiple baseline design across three small groups of participants with multiple probes during baseline. In this study, self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) for opinion writing using students’ own ideas was evaluated. Students who participated in this study demonstrated an increase in: the number of persuasive elements (e.g. premise, reasons, elaborations, and conclusion) included in their essays, overall essay quality, and the number of linking words used when writing opinion essays using their own ideas. Additionally, students’ knowledge of the writing process and opinion-writing genre improved. Students found the instruction to be socially acceptable. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018

The purpose of this discourse-analytical study is to investigate teachers’ beliefs about writ-ing and writing instruction and how their beliefs and writing instruction can be understood in relation to the Lgr11 syllabus in Swedish. The study included five teachers who teach in grade 6 of primary school, where I applied Roz Ivanič’s theories of written discourses, based partly on interviews with teachers and classroom observations of teaching, partly on the Swedish curriculum for grades 4–6. The result shows that teachers move within creativi-ty, process, genre and social practice discourse, while the skills of discourse and the socio-political discourse lack matching. The result also shows that there are relatively large convergences between teachers and teaching statements. The core content of the curriculum related to writing can be linked to all written discourses, while the overall objectives relat-ing to writing lack a match in two written discourses of creativity and process discourse.

Skrivundervisning påverkas av lärares föreställningar om skrivande, skrivinlärning och vad som bedöms som godtagbart skrivande. För att ta reda på sju lärares didaktiska val i skrivundervisningen har föreliggande studie undersökt deras uppfattningar om skrivundervisningen i årskurs 3 utifrån Ivaničs skrivdiskurser. Studiens resultat visar att lärarna förhåller sig till flera olika skrivdiskurser men vanligast är genrediskursen, färdighetsdiskursen och processdiskursen. Resultatet visar även att de nationella proven påverkar innehållet som berörs i skrivundervisningen och tre av lärarna anser att det tar för mycket tid från ordinarie undervisning. Samtidigt uppskattas det bedömningsstöd som kommer med de nationella proven eftersom det kan användas i all skrivundervisning. Lärarna anser att de nationella proven är tidskrävande samtidigt som dem kan ses som en utvärdering av skrivundervisningen. Skrivundervisningen påverkas även av elevernas olika behov och eleverna erbjuds stöd i form av kompensatoriska verktyg och specialundervisning för att stötta deras skrivutveckling och utmana de med ett utvecklat skrivande. De särskilt begåvade eleverna har istället högre krav på  i skrivundervisningen. / Writing instruction is affected by teachers’ ideas about writing, learning to write, and what is judged to be acceptable writing. To ascertain seven teachers’ didactic choices when teaching writing, the present study has investigated their perceptions of writing instruction in grade 3, based on Ivanič’s writing discourses. The results of the study show that the teachers relate to several different writing discourses, but the most common are the genre discourse, the skills discourse, and the process discourse. Another finding is that the national tests affect the content of writing instruction, and three of the teachers think that it takes too much time from the ordinary teaching. At the same time, they appreciate the assessment support that comes with the national tests, since this can be used in all writing instruction. The teachers find the national tests time-consuming, while they can simultaneously be regarded as an evaluation of the writing instruction. The teaching of writing is also affected by the pupils’ different needs, and the pupils are offered support in the form of compensatory tools and special teaching to further their writing development and challenge them to achieve more advanced writing as a result of higher demands.

This dissertation constitutes an illustration of how writing instruction in elementary school, year three, is conducted. At this stage of schooling, most pupils are assumed to have acquired basic reading and writing skills, and from now on, and increasingly over the years that follow, they are expected to read and write longer texts within different genres and subjects. The aim of this thesis is to study writing lessons that were conducted under the framework of four writing projects in a classroom, and the student-written texts that that resulted thereof. The writing pro-jects are characterised by focus on similar text types, which in my mate-rial includes "the fairy tale", "a letter to the editor", "instructions" and a "factual text". The focus of the study is on the relationship between the learning support offered to the pupils in the classroom and the na-ture of texts that the pupils then write. The research is inspired by ethnographic methodology, and is based on material consisting of field notes, video recordings and student texts. The theoretical framework assumes a socio-cultural view of learning and a dialogical view of text and writing. The teaching practices are studied on the basis of how they are built up by different chains of activities (reading, conversation and writing). Particular attention is paid to which text dimensions are addressed in classroom conversations: content, form or function. The pupils’ texts are analysed on the basis of their macro structure, and the analysis builds on the concept of "text activity". On an overall level, the results point to writing being a social activity, which is also closely interconnected to reading, and above all dialogue and conversation. The writing instruction offered to the students is also characterized by a broad view of what literacy is about. The study points out the value of versatile learning support, where the function, form and content of texts, in relation to the learning goals, are made explicit in the teaching. An important result is that the functional dimension of writing, in particular, favours writing development. On a more general level, the study raises the question of which literacy skills can and should be pro-moted by writing education in the early primary school years.

I den här studien är syftet att ta reda på hur lärare uppfattar begreppet formativ bedömning i samband med skrivundervisningen i svenska och hur den återkoppling som ges kan påverka elevernas möjlighet till progression. För att finna svar på studiens frågeställningar har en kvantitativ enkät använts som datainsamlingsmetod. Enkäten baserades mestadels på frågor av sluten karaktär, men flera frågor av öppen karaktär förekom också då det var lärares egen uppfattning som efterfrågades. Resultatet har visat att de lärare som studien baseras på har en uppfattning om formativ bedömning som en process där man under arbetets gång ger eleverna relevant återkoppling med syfte att hjälpa och stötta eleverna mot de uppsatta målen, vilket till viss del stämmer väl överens med vad forskare anser om begreppet. Men trots att lärarna i denna studie hade en uppfattning om begreppet formativ bedömning som till viss del stämde överens med vad forskare anser så var det få av dessa lärare som uppfattade den formativa bedömningen som något som även syftar till att utveckla den egna undervisningen. Att kommunicera den formativa återkopplingen muntligt är något som flera av lärarna upplever tas emot bättre av eleverna. Dock har forskare skilda uppfattningar angående om muntlig återkoppling bör ges till eleverna eller ej. / In this study, the purpose is to find out how teachers perceive the concept of feedback for formative assessment in the education of Swedish writing and how the feedback that is given can affect the student´s ability to progress. To help me find out the answers of the issues of this study a quantitative survey has been used as the method to collect data. The survey was mostly based on questions of closed nature, but some questions of open character was also used as it was the teacher´s own perception that was investigated. The result has shown that the teachers, on which the study is based, have an idea of formative assessment as a process where teachers during the course gives students relevant feedback with the aim of helping and supporting the students towards the goals that has been set. The teacher's idea of formative assessment is consistent with what researcher’s views about the concept. However, although the teachers in this study had a god idea of the concept for formative assessment, few of these teachers perceived the formative assessment as something that also aims to develop their own teaching. Communicating the formative feedback orally is something that several of the teacher´s experience as better received by the students. However, researchers have different views on whether or not oral feedback should be given to the students.