The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of writing to a real audience for a real purpose on the writing skills and self esteem of seventh grade students. Inner city, culturally diverse seventh graders exchanged a series of letters with successful members of an urban community. The study investigated the effects of this exchange on the writing skills and self esteem of the students. The twenty five seventh graders in the study were matched randomly with the adults. They wrote at least four letters each, over a four month period, and received responses. They celebrated their connection by meeting at the middle school for a breakfast. The results of the study were documented by pre and post tests, opinion questionnaires from students, teachers and parents, overall grades and grades in English and reading, anecdotal observations, and an exit interview. The data supports the general hypothesis that when seventh grade students in an inner city, culturally diverse middle school write to a real audience for a real purpose, their writing skills improve and their self esteem is enhanced. After writing at least four letters to caring local adults, many students showed improved overall grades, and better English and reading grades. They used the appropriate friendly letter heading, longer sentences, varied end punctuation, and more interesting topic sentences. Their paragraphs indicated clear thought, and were better organized. Their stories during the exit interview proved to be overwhelmingly in favor of the writing exchange. Their parents and teachers felt the students showed improved self esteem, and a clearer connection to their community. Students indicated a greater comfort level with school, made friends with their Pals, got advice from them, and enjoyed their company. The study validated the idea that students become more conscious of thinking and learning when their tasks are real and that learning is best achieved in a social context.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-8937 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Creators | Droge, Despina Maria |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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