A Comparative Study of Writing Abilities in Two Modes at the Grade 5, 8, and 12 Levels

📖 The Scoop

The third of three studies involving a comparative analysis of transactional and narrative writing of selected samples of students in two Ontario districts, this study addressed questions arising from the earlier studies and examined the writing skills of students in grades 5, 8, and 12. Writing samples were examined for conformity to the norms of story structure and argumentation, and the subject matter of the transactional writing was analyzed. The level of affective development manifested in subsamples of both the stories and the arguments was rated. All the papers in the sample were analyzed for syntactic complexity scores and for mechanical and conventional errors. Comparisons of the first and second versions of the papers were made to assess skills in revising and editing. Findings indicated the need of students to learn how to write an argument and to revise a paper. Other implications were (1) that since the level of difficulty of one aspect of a writing task may decrease the lack of control in another, teachers must take into account the nature of difficulties in the tasks they set students and make their assessments accordingly; (2) that students at all levels should be given occasions to write narratives; (3) that the model of persuasive discourse should be countered; and (4) that writing strategies recommended by authorities need to be implemented. (EL)

Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines / Writing / Composition (fancy, right?)