Date of Award

1-1-1980

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Teaching & Learning

Abstract

The present study investigated the development of written communication skills of students in the middle elementary grades. Two aspects of communicative competence served as the focus: (1) the ability to modify writing to fit the needs of the intended audience, and (2) the ability to profit from reader feedback. In addition, the effect of the writing stimulus on students' performance was examined.Thirty-six students, 12 in each of grades 3, 5, and 7, served as subjects. The students were shown one of two stimulus drawings, either a simple line drawing of a tree, hill, house, and sun (the Scene Stimulus), or a drawing composed of four geometric shapes (the Geometric Array Stimulus). The students were instructed to describe the stimulus drawing in writing so that a given audience could make an accurate reproduction of it. Each student wrote descriptions for both a first grade and an adult reader. Two descriptions were written for each reader, one before and one after receiving feedback. The feedback was the actual drawing produced by the reader. Additional data were obtained by observing the students in the process of writing and by conducting postwriting interviews with each student. The descriptions were scored for sentence length, vocabulary difficulty, and amount of information contained in the description.Sentence length did not vary significantly as a function of the intended reader at any grade level. Students in grade 7 simplified the vocabulary in descriptions written for the first grade audience. Students at each grade level provided more information for the adult than for the first grade readers, and increased significantly the amount of information in their descriptions after receiving reader feedback. The ability to profit from reader feedback was affected by the nature of the stimulus drawing, the third grade students having particular difficulty improving their descriptions of the Geometric Array Stimulus.The ability to communicate effectively in writing does appear to develop across the middle elementary grades. Even students in grade 3 made choices in their writing which took into account the communicative needs of the intended reader. A final conclusion drawn from the results of the study was that writing performance cannot be accurately assessed without considering the intended audience, the cognitive demands of the writing task, the nature of the feedback, and the purpose for writing.

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