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Writing week-journals to improve the writing quality of fourth-graders’ compositions

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An Erratum to this article was published on 02 February 2017

Abstract

Students’ writing problems are a global educational concern and is in need of particular attention. This study aims to examine the impact of providing extra writing opportunities (i.e., writing journals) on the quality of writing compositions. A longitudinal cluster-randomized controlled design using a multilevel modeling analysis with 182 fourth grade students was conducted. We examined whether students’ writing quality differed when writing journals on a weekly basis for 12 weeks, compared with a control group. Three covariates were analyzed, namely: (i) the students’ attitudes towards writing; (ii) their self-efficacy in writing; (iii) and their use of self-regulation (SRL) strategies while writing. Findings have shown that students who wrote week-journals significantly improved the writing quality of their compositions and reported a higher use of SRL strategies in writing. Nevertheless, self-efficacy and attitude towards writing were found to not be related to the quality of the compositions. Moreover, data indicated that the writing quality of compositions improved along with the writing quality of the week-journals. Findings suggest the use of week-journals in class to promote writing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Psychology, Escola de Psicologia, Universidade do Minho, Gualtar, 4710-052, Braga, Portugal

    Pedro Rosário, Julia Högemann, Jennifer Cunha & Vera Oliveira

  2. Department of Psychology, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Oviedo, Plaza Feijoo, s/n., 33003, Oviedo, Spain

    José Carlos Núñez, Guillermo Vallejo & Celestino Rodrigues

  3. Facultad de Educación, Universidad Central de Chile, Calle Toesca 1783, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Sonia Fuentes

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  1. Pedro Rosário
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  2. Julia Högemann
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  3. José Carlos Núñez
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  4. Guillermo Vallejo
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  5. Jennifer Cunha
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  6. Vera Oliveira
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  8. Celestino Rodrigues
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Correspondence to Pedro Rosário.

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9720-x.

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Rosário, P., Högemann, J., Núñez, J.C. et al. Writing week-journals to improve the writing quality of fourth-graders’ compositions. Read Writ 30, 1009–1032 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-016-9710-4

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