| This study sought to determine preservice teachers' beliefs regarding the role of "giftedness" in writing achievement. Specifically it sought to reveal whether preservice teachers believed writing a skill that could be taught and learned or a "gift," akin to natural talent or genius, that certain students are simply born with.;The 192 preservice teachers who participated in the study included all students enrolled in eight sections of an introductory language arts course offered at a public university in upstate New York. The majority of the participants were full-time students in their junior or senior year of college.;The research took place in two phases. The first phase involved an administration of Palmquist and Young's (1992) Writing Questionnaire. Items in the questionnaire determined the extent to which respondents believed writing to be dependent on "giftedness" versus the extent to which they believed writing a skill that can be taught and learned. Additional items required respondents to make self-assessments of their own writing skills. Four "extreme" subgroups, representing 66 participants, were formed based on the questionnaire scores: (a) Preservice teachers making high self-assessments of their writing ability, (b) Preservice teachers making low self-assessments of their writing ability, (c) Preservice teachers with high levels of belief in the notion of "giftedness" in writing, and (d) Preservice teachers with low levels of belief in the notion of "giftedness" in writing. A content analysis of these participants' Literacy Histories (Judy & Judy, 1983) made up the second phase of the research. References were coded according to three attributional categories: (a) ability/"giftedness," (b) effort/"learnability," and (c) influential others.;Results indicated that preservice teachers emphasized the role of "effort" in writing achievement over that of "giftedness." However, some preservice teachers viewed "effort" in negative terms and admitted that they consciously chose not to expend great amounts of it in their writing. Results also indicated that preservice teachers believed "influential others"---teachers, parents, and siblings---to have had a substantial impact on their level of writing achievement. |
