Exploring Opinion Writing Instruction for Spanish-Speaking Latino Students in Linguistically Complex, Fourth-Grade English Language Arts Classrooms

• In Event: 61.071 - Sheraton Roundtable Session 10 - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 61.071-11 - Multilingual Writers: Developing Critical Contexts for Writing Globally and Locally

Abstract

Our research focuses on opinion writing instruction for fourth-grade Spanish-speaking Latino students. Using a study-designed observation protocol informed by process writing and genre pedagogy, we describe the nature of opinion writing instruction in 23 fourth-grade English language arts classrooms with a focus on writing process instructional phases and features of genre pedagogy. We found that, on average, teachers devoted just over half of their instructional time to Planning/Pre-writing. In addition, while instruction addressed important features of genre pedagogy, such as Building the Field and Text Structure, it rarely addressed Linguistic Features. Moreover, the genre pedagogy features that teachers addressed varied by lesson phase. We discuss the implications of these findings for writing instruction for English Learners and for future research.

Authors

• Linda Caswell, Abt Associates Inc.

• Mileidis Gort, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Elizabeth Howard, Illinois Institute of Technology

• Mary A. Avalos, University of Miami

• Daniel Litwok, Abt Associates

• Tyler Morrill, Abt Associates

• Astrid Nicholl Sambolin Morales, University of Colorado - Boulder