Abstract:
Learning to write is a daunting task for many young children. The purpose of this
study was to examine the impact of a combined approach to writing instruction and
assessment on the writing performance of students in two grade 3 classes. Five forms and
traits of writing were purposefully connected during writing lessons while exhibiting
links to the four strands of the grade 3 Ontario science curriculum. Students then had
opportunities to engage in the writing process and to self-assess their compositions using
either student-developed (experimental group/teacher-researcher's class) or teachercreated
(control group/teacher-participant's class) rubrics. Paired samples t-tests revealed
that both the experimental and control groups exhibited statistically significant growth
from pretest to posttest on all five integrated writing units. Independent samples t-tests
showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the persuasive +
sentence fluency and procedure + word choice writing tasks. Pearson product-moment
correlation r tests revealed significant correlations between the experimental group and
the teacher-researcher on the recount + ideas and report + organization tasks, while
students in the control group showed significant correlations with the teacher-researcher
on the narrative + voice and procedure + word choice tasks. Significant correlations
between the control group and the teacher-participant were evident on the persuasive +
sentence fluency and procedure + word choice tasks. Qualitative analyses revealed five
themes that highlighted how students' self-assessments and reflections can be used to
guide teachers in their instructional decision making. These findings suggest that
educators should adopt an integrated writing program in their classrooms, while working
with students to create and utilize purposeful writing assessment tools.
