This research describes the effects of various amounts of CLAST instruction on students' performance on the CLAST essay test and on their development as freshman writers. Four groups of students who received various amounts of CLAST essay instruction during their freshman year at Florida State University were studied. Their CLAST essay scores as well as scores they received on CLAST facsimile essays were analyzed along with information obtained from questionnaires, attitude surveys, additional pieces of controlled writing, and personal interviews of case-study students. / Analysis of data indicates that instruction in CLAST essay skills does not ensure higher CLAST essay scores and that CLAST instruction should not be made the focus of freshman composition. Students' attitudes toward their development as writers is negatively affected when freshman writing courses focus on the limited, product-based criteria CLAST essay graders use when scoring student essays. / Data analysis also indicates that process-based writing instruction does not ensure that students will take their papers through recursive stages of drafting and revising when they are given a choice of composing strategies. Unless student writers are involved with the subject about which they are writing, it is highly unlikely that they will put anything more than minimal time, energy, or thought into their writing. In order to become involved with their writing, students must view writing as a worthwhile activity that helps them grow and develop as individuals. Writing must be taught as something more than a necessary skill which students will be required to use in college courses and on various competency tests. If students are to come to view composing as a valuable tool they can use in many areas of their lives, writing must be taught as a way of thinking and communicating. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0827. / Major Professor: John Fenstermaker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78435 |
| Contributors | Coxwell, Deborah Loretta., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 286 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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