Teachers’ practices and beliefs about teaching writing: a comprehensive survey of grades 1 to 3 teachers

Abstract

A random sample of 782 grades 1 through 3 Chinese language arts teachers in Taiwan were surveyed about how they taught writing and their beliefs about writing. The underlying dimensions of teachers’ reported writing practices and beliefs were established through factor analyses. Thirty-seven percent of the teachers reported they taught writing every day (average writing lesson across all teachers was 52 min). However, most teachers indicated they offered writing classes infrequently, as 60% of teachers reported teaching writing just once a week or less often. Teachers applied many different instructional procedures when teaching writing, but a majority of teachers reported using these practices only once a month or less often. Teachers were not positive about their preparation to teach writing, but slightly positive about their attitude towards their own writing, their attitudes and efficacy for teaching writing, and the progress they believed their students were making as writers. Their epistemological beliefs about how best to teach writing, how one becomes a good writer, and how one knows about writing were more mixed. Teachers slightly agreed that explicit instruction is important when teaching writing, but slightly disagreed that this is true for natural learning approaches. They also slightly agreed that effort and process are important ingredients to becoming a good writer, but slightly disagreed that learning and knowledge in writing are fixed. Further, they slightly agreed that writing knowledge comes from experts and authority figures. Teachers’ beliefs about writing predicted how often teachers employed specific instructional procedures. Recommendations for future research and implications for instruction are provided.