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‘How do I do it if I don’t like writing?’: Adolescents’ stances toward writing across disciplines

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Abstract

This research embedded in the National Study of Writing Instruction examines higher- and lower-achieving adolescents’ stances toward content-area writing through a qualitative discourse analysis of interviews with 40 students in California, Kentucky, New York, and Texas secondary schools. The study asked: (1) How do students’ stances toward writing compare in general and across disciplines? (2) How do stances compare among middle and high school students and among students with different achievement histories? Results suggest that adolescents generally hold positive attitudes toward writing that allows for the expression of subjective stances, which they report is more commonly assigned in English language arts classrooms. Implications for the adoption of new US standards for disciplinary writing are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Student interview data from the National Study of Writing Instruction is the focus of the present study as well.

  2. Examples in this paragraph were taken from an interview with Carlton, a lower-achieving tenth grader from Texas.

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Acknowledgments

The National Study of Writing Instruction was conducted by the Center on English Learning and Achievement at the University at Albany, in collaboration with the National Writing Project. The study was supported in part by grants from the College Board and the Spencer Foundation. The authors wish to thank Arthur Applebee for his incisive feedback regarding the writing of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Secondary Education, Brooklyn College–City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11210, USA

    Jill V. Jeffery

  2. Department of Educational Theory and Practice, University at Albany, State University of New York, Ed 115a, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY, 12222, USA

    Kristen Wilcox

Authors
  1. Jill V. Jeffery
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  2. Kristen Wilcox
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Correspondence to Jill V. Jeffery.

Appendix: Student interview protocol

Appendix: Student interview protocol

[Relate questions or follow-up questions directly to samples of student work where possible.]

  1. 1.

    Tell me a little about yourself and how you see yourself as a writer.

  2. 2.

    Tell me about the kinds of writing you do in the different classes you are taking. [List classes and types of writing for each.]

  3. 3.

    Let’s look at the writing you did so far this semester. Of the writing you have done for English, how much do we have here? (List specific assignments that are missing, and estimate how complete the collection is for each type of writing. E.g., 4 out of 7 analyses of literature; 3 out of 3 book reports.) Repeat for social studies, science, and math.

  4. 4.

    What were your favorite writing assignments this semester? Why? Which assignments did you like least? Why?

  5. 5.

    Tell me the steps you took for one of your longer writing assignments in English? [Go through this process for one or more of the writing samples of one paragraph of more in each subject that included extensive writing.]

  6. 6.

    Are there differences in what makes “good” writing in each subject? [List subjects and criteria.] How do your teachers give you feedback about your writing in each subject? Are there opportunities to revise and re-submit work in any of these classes?

  7. 7.

    How much do you feel that you’ve been helped to understand the kinds of writing you need to do in each subject and how to do it better? Tell me about it.

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Jeffery, J.V., Wilcox, K. ‘How do I do it if I don’t like writing?’: Adolescents’ stances toward writing across disciplines. Read Writ 27, 1095–1117 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-013-9493-9

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