The purpose of this study was to compare the writing produced by first-grade students in three different social settings with assigned and unassigned topics. The three different social interaction patterns were: (a) writing while interacting with an adult, (b) writing while interacting with peers, and (c) writing by themselves.The sample consisted of 14 first graders in two classrooms in a university laboratory school in a midwestern school district. During a 6-week period, as the children composed, audio-taping and written observations were taken. At the end of the study, interviews with the children were conducted.The 84 written products were rated using the Smith-Ingersoll Holistic Rating Scale and analyzed for number of words, vocabulary, spelling, number of T-units, and number of words per T-unit. Multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to test three null hypotheses at the .05 level of significance. The three null hypotheses were not rejected, leading to the following conclusions:1. First graders in this study achieved equally well in writing when they wrote with a teacher or with peers or individually.2. The first graders achieved equally well in writing when they wrote on an assigned or unassigned topic.3. There was no statistically significant interaction between the three social contexts and topic choice among the first graders in this study.Observational data suggested that writing seems to have such unique relationships to individuals that responses in different social settings vary at different times and situations. The multiplicity of factors which impinged on the performance of the child made it difficult to isolate any single factor out of the total learning-writing environment.Recommendations for additional research include replication and expansion of this research with children at various grade levels. In addition, recommendations are made for future research to examine a variety of other factors which might influence writing performance and frequency of writing in the classroom. / Department of Elementary Education
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/174851 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Arulampalam, Santha Devi |
| Contributors | Schroeder, Thomas S. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | x, 124 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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