Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine whether teaching three participants with learning disabilities to name and identify critical components (i.e., opening sentence, detail sentences, and key words) for four expository text structures, and to discriminate between well-written and poorly written components would improve their expository writing performance. After instruction, one participant immediately improved her expository paragraph writing skills. However, two participants needed additional instruction and feedback on their writing before their paragraph writing improved. Social validation of the study outcomes was assessed by comparing participants' paragraphs before and after instruction to paragraphs produced by same age peers without disabilities. After instruction, participants' paragraph scores were above the mean score of the normative comparison group. Implications for teaching writing skills to students with learning disabilities, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Ambruster, B. B., & Anderson, T. H. (1984). Producing considerate expository texts: Or easy reading is damned hard writing. (Reading Education Report No. 46). Urbana: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading.
Bos, C. (1988). Process oriented writing: Instructional implications for mildly handicapped students. Exceptional Children, 54(6), 521–527.
Deschler, D. D., Ellis, E., & Lenz, B. K. (1996). Teaching adolescents with learning disabilities. (2nd ed.). Denver: Love Publishing.
Engelmann, Z., & Carnine, D. (1982). Theory of instruction: Principles and applications. New York: Irvington Publishers.
Englert, C. S. (1992). Writing instruction from a sociocultural perspective: The holistic, dialogic, and social enterprise of writing. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 25(3), 153–172.
Englert, C. S., & Raphael, T. E. (1988). Constructing well-formed prose: Process, structure, and metacognitive knowledge. Exceptional Children, 54(6), 513–520.
Englert, C. S., Raphael, T. E., & Anderson, L. M. (1992). Socially mediated instruction: Improving students' knowledge and talk about writing. The Elementary School Journal, 92(4), 411–449.
Englert, C. S., Raphael, T. E., Anderson, L. M., Anthony, H. M., Fear, K., & Gregg, S. L. (1988). A case for writing intervention: Strategies for writing informational text. Learning Disabilities Focus, 3(2), 93–113.
Englert, C. S., Raphael, T. E., Anderson, L. M., Anthony, H. H., & Stevens, D. D. (1991). Making strategies and self-talk visible: Writing instruction in regular and general education classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 28(2), 337–372.
Flesch, J. R., & Kincaid, C. (1965). Flesch-Kincaid Readability Formula. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Furnell, J. R. G., & Thomas, G. V. (1976). Stimulus control of generalized imitation in subnormal children. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 22, 282–291.
Graham, S., & Harris, K. (1989). Improving learning disabled students' skills at composing essays: Self-instructional strategy training. Exceptional Children, 56(3), 201–214.
Graves, D. H. (1994). A fresh look at writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Hall, R. V. (1983). Behavior modification: The measurement of behavior (rev. ed.) Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Hallenbeck, M. J. (1996). The cognitive strategy in writing: Welcome relief for adolescents with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 11(2), 107–119.
Hayes, J. R., & Flower, L. S. (1980). Writing as a problem solving activity. Visible Language, 14, 388–399.
Kennedy, C. H. (1992). Trends in the measurement of social validity. The Behavior Analyst, 15(2), 147–156.
Meyer, B. J. (1982). Reading research and the composition teacher: The importance of plans. College Composition and Communication, 33(1), 37–49.
Moran, M. R. (1988). Rationale and procedures for increasing the productivity of inexperienced writers. Exceptional Children, 54(6), 552–558.
Parker, R., Tindal, G., & Hasbrouck, J. (1991). Countable indices of writing quality: their suitability for screening eligibility decisions. Exceptionality, 2, 1–17.
Raphael, T. E., Englert, C. S., & Kirschner, B. W. (1989). Students' metacognitive knowledge about writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 23(4), 343–379.
Scardamalia, M., & Paris, P. (1985). The function of explicit discourse knowledge in the development of text representations and composing strategies. Cognition and Instruction, 2(1), 1–39.
Tawney, J. W., & Gast, D. L. (1984). Single subject research in special education. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Thomas, C. C., Englert, C. S., & Gregg, S. (1987). An analysis of errors and strategies in the expository writing of learning disabled students. Remedial and Special Education, 8(1), 21–30.
Tindal, G, Rebar, M., Nolet, V., & McCollum, S. (1995). Understanding instructional outcome options for students with special needs in content classes. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 10(2), 72–84.
Wong, B., Wong, R., & Blenkinsop, J. (1989). Cognitive and metacognitive aspects of learning disabled adolescents composing problems. Learning Disability Quarterly, 12, 300–322.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miller, T.L., Lignugaris-Kraft, B. The Effects of Text Structure Discrimination Training on the Writing Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities. Journal of Behavioral Education 11, 203–230 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021158221644
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021158221644