The influence of two instructional methods, the Constrictive-Interactionist approach (C-I) and the Traditional Process approach (T-P), on student writing was determined by evaluating the post test essays of sixty-five ENG 101 students for overall writing quality using holistic scoring. The products were then analyzed further for specific content features which were emphasized during the treatment and were particular to the essay form. / A significant difference was found between pre- and post tests of individual students regardless of treatment. However, there was a much greater increase in mean scores for the experimental group (C-I), with a mean gain of.78, than the reference group (T-P), with a mean gain of.17. Twenty-four percent of the scores in the T-P classes decreased pre- to post test, while only three percent of the scores decreased in the C-I sections. In the C-I essays there was clear evidence of the evaluation criteria, especially that of well-told meaningful story and clear indication of the event's significance. Insubstantial evidence of the criteria was found in the T-P essays. / A descriptive analysis of the treatments was conducted to inductively discover meaning-making patterns of language: specifically content, structure and function. In the C-I classes the evaluation criteria comprised the content, the function was to explicitly negotiate the meaning of the criteria considering form and function and the structure involved student and teacher interacting to reach consensus on meaning. The function of the T-P instruction was to teach activities and were teacher directed with the teacher's interpretation of meaning. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-02, Section: A, page: 0454. / Major Professor: Carolyn L. Piazza. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76564 |
| Contributors | Kent, Judith Fox., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 161 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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