Writing and Writing Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: Review of a Research Program

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Sage Publications, Inc. and Hammill Institute on Disabilities are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Learning Disability Quarterly.Abstract. This article reviews our research program in written language, including examinations of what and how students with LD write. The evidence indicates that these students' writing difficulties stem, in part, from problems with basic text production skills, scant knowledge about writing, and difficulties with planning and revising text. In other studies, we have evaluated the effectiveness of instructional procedures for addressing one or more of these difficulties, including strategy instruction, procedural facilitation, word processing, basic skills instruction, and the process approach to writing. Our research in each of these areas is reviewed and recommendations for future research are provided.During the last decade, both the public and the educational communities have expressed concern about the quality of writing instruction in our schools. The news media periodically have become involved in the issue, often suggesting that writing instruction and students' performance have declined (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1986). This widespread concern about the quality of writing instruction has coincided with three important actions (Graham & Harris, 1988a, 1988b. First, more time has been allocated to writing instruction and the amount of writing assigned to students has reportedly increased. Second, many states now require that students be able to demonstrate that they can write in a clear and logical manner before they receive a high school diploma. Third, research involving the study of writing has increased dramatically.What implications do these actions have for the field of learning disabilities? The first two require that effective instructional practices be identified and implemented in order to help students with learning disabilities (LD) deal successfully with increased content-area writing demands and minimal-competency testing requirements. The third action has increased the likelihood that these demands can be adequately addressed because our knowledge about what writing involves, how students write, and ways of helping students progress as writers has been greatly refined and extended.The purpose of this invited paper is to present a line of research that we have carried out over

The effectiveness of a program based on self-regulated strategy development on the writing skills of writing-disabled secondary school students

“…Formulating goals and objectives, a strategy that experienced writers use to plan and execute higher-level writing tasks, is a third area of difficulty for students with LD (Graham, Harris, MacArthur, & Schwartz, 1991). Writing can be characterized as a problem-solving task that includes identifying goals for writing as well as the means to achieve them.…”

“…Karen Harris, Steve Graham, and their colleagues have conducted a research program examining application of the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model to the teaching of writing, as well as the integration of SRSD and the process approach to writing Graham, Harris, MacArthur, & Schwartz, 1991). With SRSD, students collaborate in the development of strategies for planning and revising as well as in developing procedures for regulating the use of these strategies, the writing task, and individual cognitive and behavioral characteristics (such as impulsivity) that may impede writing performance.…”

Improving Written Language Performance of Adolescents With Asperger Syndrome

“…Because writing skills may affect later job performance, it is important to identify effective writing interventions for this population (Klin, McPartland, & Volkmar, 2005). The self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model developed by Graham, Harris, MacArthur, and Schwartz (1991) has been evaluated in numerous studies with children with learning disabilities (Graham & Harris, 2003). Results of these studies indicate that when children with learning disabilities are taught writing strategies and self-regulation procedures (e.g., goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement), both the quantity and quality of their writing improve (De La Paz, 1999, 2001De La Paz & Graham, 1997;Graham & Harris, 1989;Troia, Graham, & Harris, 1999).…”

A Research Design: Investigating the Effects of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies on EFL Learners’ Writing Performance: A Case Study of a Chinese University

“…The calculation result of effect sizes in the meta-analyses is between 0.45 and 0.62 (Dignath, Büettner, & Langfeld, 2008;Ghonsooly & Shirvan, 2010). On the other hand, different finer-grained empirical analyses proved the significant influence of SRL strategies on learner's achievements in academic settings such as schools (Pintrich, 2000(Pintrich, , 2004Svinicki, 2010;Winne, 1995;Zimmerman, 2001Zimmerman, , 2008Zimmerman & Schunk, 2001) or domains such as young learners' writing (Graham et al, 1991). Even though the studies of Harris (1996, 2005) provided insights to the relationship between SRL and language learning, the number of research on this topic is still limited.…”