Writing instruction in Ibero-America: national survey studies in Spanish and Portuguese

• Magdalena Flores & Daphne van Weijen & Gert Rijlaarsdam
  In Chile, as in other countries, there is a concern about young people unsatisfactory writing skills. This raises the need of conducting descriptive studies on writing instruction that could set a basis of evidence for future improvement.
  Based on a meta-analysis of writing practices for adolescents, previous survey studies conducted in other countries, and on relevant literature of the Chilean context, we created and implemented an online national survey study aiming to collect information about L1 teachers’ practices of writing instruction in Chile.
  The 94 questions of the questionnaire were formulated by conceptual categories, which in turn conformed the three main components of our instrument: Domain specific practices of instruction, Generic practices of instruction, and Contextual features.
  Data was collected in 2017 from all regions in Chile: we obtained 182 completed surveys (response rate: 47%). Results show that teachers teach writing from an eclectic view of writing instruction. Only a few paradigms form coherent sets of practices that co-occur in the classroom: within the domain specific component, the procedural and the cultural practices and, within the generic component, the collaborative and assessment practices.
  Within domain specific component, some local linguistic and cultural practices are highly implemented (>75%) and most respondents reported regularly implementing procedural practices (63%). Within generic practices, the set of assessment practices, activating students’ previous experiences and supporting disadvantaged students reveal to be highly implemented practices (>75%). On the other side, the category that revealed to be the least implemented is the communicative one, ;in addition, no correlations between variables were found within it.
  Results also reveal differences per level of secondary education. In the lower grades, there is a greater emphasis on spelling and procedural practices, and teachers more regularly support their practice on resources such as rubrics and textbooks. In the upper grades, conditions of teachers’ practices appear have a stronger negative effect on writing instruction.
  We expect that this study will contribute to the improvement of writing instruction in Chile and that it will provide guidance to the international community of L1 researchers, by comparing it to similar studies conducted in other countries.
  
  References
  Cutler, L. & Graham, S. (2008). Primary Grade Writing Instruction: A National Survey. Journal of Educational Psychology. 100 (4), 907-919. doi:10.103.1037/A0012656
  Graham, S., Capizzi, A., Harris, K. R., Hebert, M., & Morphy, P. (2014). Teaching writing to middle school students: A national survey. Reading and Writing, 27(6), 1015–1042. doi:10.1007/s11145-013-9495-7.
  Graham, S. & Perin, D. (2007). Writing Next. Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Education. Alliance for Excellent Education: New York.
• Rut Sánchez-Rivero & Raquel Fidalgo & Teresa Limpo
  Several meta-analyses of writing instruction have provided evidence-based practices to improve students` writing. However, the high number of students who fail to achieve an adequate competence in writing makes it necessary to know whether teachers apply these kinds of practices in the teaching of writing. Moreover, it is important to consider teachers` beliefs when analysing their teaching practices. Therefore, the aims of this study are: 1) To analyse how often Primary and High school Spanish teachers (grades 1st to 10th) use evidence-based writing instructional practices. 2) To analyse if there are differences in teachers` use of evidence-based writing practices and teachers` beliefs (level of preparation, efficacy and attitudes) according to the educational level: elementary (1st - 3rd), upper (4th – 6th) and high school (7th – 10th). 3) To analyse the predictive role that different teachers` beliefs have in teachers` writing instructional practice. Five hundred fifteen Spanish language teachers from primary education to high school from Castilla y León Autonomy participated in the study. We developed an on-line survey, including 3 sections: 1) sociodemographic information; 2) evidence-based writing practices extracted from meta-analyses studies; 3) teachers` level of preparation, efficacy and attitudes towards writing instruction, adapted from previous studies.
  Results showed that teachers use of evidence-based instructional writing practices is rare. High school teachers use evidence-based practices less frequently than elementary and upper primary teachers do. High school teachers reported significantly less self-efficacy to teach writing than upper primary teachers and felt significantly less prepared to teach writing than elementary and upper primary teachers. Teachers who feel better prepared displayed higher self-efficacy and better attitudes to teach writing and, are more likely to use evidence-based instructional practices in all educational levels. Implementing a higher use of evidence-based writing practices seems necessary across educational levels. In order to realize this teachers should be provided with better preparation to teach writing including evidence-based writing practices in teachers` degrees and teachers` professional development programs. This seems particularly important in high school grades
  
  *Note: Study supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Grant (EDU2015-67484-P), and Spanish Ministry of Education Grant (FPU-15/03017).
  
  Cutler, L. & Graham, S. (2008). Primary Grade Writing Instruction: A National Survey. Journal of Educational Psychology. 100 (4), 907-919. doi:10.103.1037/A0012656
  Graham, S. & Perin, D. (2007). Writing Next. Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Education. Alliance for Excellent Education: New York.
• Anabela Malpique & Janete Silva Moreira
  In a knowledge-based global economy, skillful writing is a critical requirement for academic, professional, and personal success. Surprisingly, our knowledge regarding writing instruction is relatively limited, drawing an incomplete picture of writing education across the globe (Graham & Rijlaarsdam, 2016; Malpique, Pino-Pasternak, & Vulcan, 2017).
  This study adds a needed contextual lens to research on writing instruction by exploring similarities and differences between Portuguese and Brazilian teachers’ practices for and perceptions about writing and writing instruction. A sample of middle-school teachers (years 5-9) from Portugal (n = 96) and Brazil (n = 99) completed the Teachers’ Practices for and Perceptions about Writing Instruction (TPPWI) survey. The survey assessed preparation to teach writing (e.g., pre-service and in-service training); the amount of time teachers assigned for teaching writing; specific teaching practices, including practices to foster self-regulated writing; and adaptations for less skilled writers. A subsequent aim was to examine relationships between teachers’ pre-service preparation and in-service training to teach writing and specific teaching practices for and perceptions about teaching writing.
  Findings from this survey raised concerns about the quality of writing instruction in both countries. Teachers reported devoting little time to writing instruction in their classes. The majority of the teachers rarely used practices to promote students’ self-regulated writing or applied explicit teaching methods for writing instruction. Both Portuguese and Brazilian teachers perceived writing as a shared responsibility. Brazilian teachers, however, agreed with this perception more strongly. A positive correlation was found between teachers’ preparation to teach writing and their practices to promote students’ self-regulated writing. Taken together, these findings highlight the need to investigate writing instruction across the globe to substantiate teacher training programs and governmental policies that foster students’ effective writing development.
  References
  Graham, S., & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2016). Writing education around the globe: Introduction and call for a new global analysis. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26, 781-792. doi:10.1007/s11145-016-9640-1
  Malpique, A. A., Pino-Pasternak, D., & Valcan, D. (2017). Handwriting automaticity and writing instruction in Australian kindergarten: An exploratory study. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 30, 1789-1812. doi:10.1007/s11145-017-9753-1