Enhancing Argumentative Essay Writing of Fourth-Grade Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

A within-subject pretest-posttest comparison design was used to explore the effectiveness of a planning and writing intervention in improving the argumentative writing performance of five fourth-grade students with learning disabilities. Students were taught to collaboratively plan and revise their essays and independently write their essays using procedures articulated by Wong, Butler, Ficzere, and Kuperis (1996). Results demonstrated notable increases in students' written protocols on the quantitative criteria (e.g., number of words written, prewriting and composing times). However, only three of the five students made gains related to writing clarity and cogency. Students' performance improved from “below basic” to “basic” or “proficient” levels with respect to qualitative criteria (i.e., focus, content, and organization) on the statewide writing assessment. Although transfer effects to a different writing task, person, and setting were evident for all students on the quantitative criteria, these effects were mixed on the qualitative criteria. Social validity data indicated student and teacher satisfaction with the planning/writing intervention. Implications of the study for argumentative essay writing instruction are discussed.

Spelling, Handwriting, and Process: Writing Instruction Strategies for Students with Intellectual and Learning Disabilities

“…Difficulty with thinking about their own writing makes organizing their own thoughts into written information difficult for students with CD. Consequently, some may end up with short, undetailed products (Deatline- Buchman and Jitendra, 2006). Students with CD may also have difficulty in low-level text production.…”

“…This shift can be challenging to all students; according to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), only 28% of fourth graders performed at a proficient level in writing assessments (National Center for Education Statistics, 2004). This poses a significant challenge for students with cognitive disabilities, as evidence of their writing abilities may be lower than their neurologically diverse peers (Deatline-Buchman and Jitendra, 2006). For novice and (even) experienced teachers, this is a pressing issue warranting further exploration.…”

Experiential Study in Learning English Writing: An Inquiry into Saudi Learners’ Concerns

“…Although the latter has some flaws regarding generalization, it still provides the field of education with continuous research and studies. For instance, Song & Ferretti (2013) cited many studies, which investigate the interventions that have been implemented to improve students' argumentative writing (De La Paz & Graham, 1997;Deatline-Buchman & Jitendra, 2006;Ferretti, Macarthur, & Dowdy, 2000;Graham & Harris, 1989;Sexton, Harris, & Graham, 1998). Finally and more importantly, forty-six states agreed to implement the Common Core State Standard (CCSS) in their educational systems (Graham & Harris, 2013).…”

The Effects of Computer Graphic Organizers on the Narrative Writing of Elementary School Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

“…In comparison to typically achieving peers, the compositions of students with SLD are generally shorter, less organized, lower in quality or substance, and less varied in vocabulary. They also lack an awareness of the audience and contain more spelling and sentence formation errors (Deatline-Buchman & Jitendra, 2006;Troia & Graham, 2002). Furthermore, many students with SLD lack the knowledge base of the various components of a story and thus produce compositions that are difficult to follow and lack focus (Swanson, Harris, & Graham, 2003).…”