What Matters Most in the Teaching and Learning of Argumentative Writing in High School English Language Arts Classrooms

• In Event: Roundtable Session 129
  In Roundtable Session: Writing

Abstract

The ability to compose a high quality argument in writing is a critical skill for the academic success of high school students. To guide the development of our research instruments for data collection, we will relied on the principles of Hillocks’ notion of the environmental (instructional) mode. Our sample, comprising 8 classrooms (8 English language arts teachers and their 150 students) was selected from a pool of all the high schools in 16 urban and suburban school districts. The overall results of the analyses reported here are strikingly consistent: We found that time spent on instructional activities grounded in procedural knowledge for argumentative writing such as teacher-led and small group discussions were significantly related to gains in post-test performance.

Authors

• George E. Newell, The Ohio State University

• Alan Hirvela, The Ohio State University

• Helen M. Marks, The Ohio State University

• Jennifer Lynn VanDerHeide, The Ohio State University

• Allison Wynhoff-Olsen, Ohio State University

• Jamie Rae Smith, The Ohio State University

• Amy Bradley, The Ohio State University

• Mark Edward Sholl, Ohio State University