The influence of training on eighth-grade language arts teachers' writing instruction for advanced writers

This study investigated how background training in writing instruction influenced eighth grade Language Arts teachers' instructional responses to advanced writers in high-stakes testing environments. The study also investigated what other factors, if any, influenced the ways in which the participating teachers responded to the needs of the advanced writers in their classrooms. Qualitative research methods were employed to investigate the writing instruction of three teachers, two of whom had received training in writing instruction through a summer writing project affiliated with the National Writing Project, and one of whom had no background training in writing instruction. Multiple observations of each teacher's classroom and multiple interviews with each teacher occurred over the course of two and a half months, from mid-January until just after the state writing assessments were administered in early March.; The study's findings indicate that training in writing instruction influenced teachers' writing instruction in general but had little discernable effect on teachers' instruction for the most advanced writers in their classes. Factors other than training in writing instruction, including teachers' approaches to preparing students for state tests, teachers' ultimate goals for writing instruction, teachers' beliefs about students, and teachers' engagement in the class, played a significant role in determining the effectiveness of participating teachers' writing instruction for all writers, including the most advanced.