Promoting Argumentative Writing Skills of Ninth-Graders at Lower Secondary Schools using the SRSD approach
Submitted by:
Lucas Deutzmann
Abstract:
The basic literacy skill of writing is described by the European Union as a “key competence” and "part of lifelong learning" (European Union, 2019). One way of promoting argumentative writing skills among all students is the SRSD approach (Graham & Harris, 2017). The intervention study addresses the following research question: What is the impact of a series of lessons on written argumentation of ninth-grade students (n=143) at two German lower secondary schools according to the SRSD approach on argumentative writing skills?
The treatment included six lessons as part of teaching project Fair Debating and Written Argumentation (total corpus of 1.024 digitally recorded texts at four measurement points). The study extracted analysed texts of seven ninth-grade learning groups (N = 381) in a mixed-methods design, including texts from four randomised intervention groups (n=233) and three no-treatment groups (n=148). Holistic text quality was measured by double-blind rating on a Likert-scale according to IMOSS encoding (Neumann & Matthiesen, 2011; κ = .828). To explain the results, the reflections on the series of lessons are described through field notes taken by the instructors.
The presentation will focus on the qualitative and quantitative results. The field notes indicate that modelling as well as using writing plans seem to be helpful for the development of argumentative writing skills. Furthermore, intervention groups, who had previously completed the series of lessons on written argumentation, show the highest text quality. Compared to the no-treatment groups, the effect sizes are d = 0.29 for t2 and d = 0.36 for t3. The results confirm former studies indicating that the SRSD approach can sustainably promote argumentative writing skills of students at lower secondary schools.
Literature:
European Union. (2019). Key competences for lifelong learning. Luxembourg: Publications of European Union. Available at: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/297a33c8-a1f3-11e9-9d01-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-107520914
Graham, S. & Harris, K. R. (2017). Evidence-Based Writing Practices: A Meta-Analysis of Existing Meta-Analysis. In R. Fidalgo,K. Harris & M. Braaksma (Eds.), Studies in Writing Series: Vol. 34 Design Principles for Teaching Effective Writing (p. 13–37). Leiden, Boston: Brill.
Neumann, A. & Matthiesen, F. (2011). Indikatorenmodell des schulischen Schreibens: Testdokumentation 2009, 2010. (DidaktikDiskurse; Vol. 5). Leuphana Universität Lüneburg.