| This research study examines the relationships between text-structure awareness, reading comprehension, and writing performance. The Review of Literature discusses the reading-writing connection and compares the features used in writing assessment to the attributes used to define text structure. More specifically, this investigation reviews (a) relationships between text-structure awareness and reading comprehension, (b) relationships between text-structure awareness and writing performance, and (c) relationships between reading comprehension and writing performance.Subjects were 57 sixth-grade students from three junior high schools located in a K-8 school district in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Scores for four test situations were collected and analyzed. The measuring tools included three text-structure recognition exercises, the Illinois Goals Assessment Plan (IGAP) essay writing test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading comprehension test, and the local Reading Criterion Referenced Test (CRT). The Pearson r Correlation Coefficient was used to inter-correlate the sets of data pertaining to text-structure recognition variables (discourse classification, feature usage, text plan), writing performance variables (focus, support/elaboration, organization, conventions, integration), and reading comprehension variables (ITBS, CRT). Data were further analyzed according to gender.The results indicated that significant relationships exist among the variables of text-structure recognition, writing performance, and reading comprehension. No gender-related differences exist among the variables. The associations support the theory that students may use text structure to improve thinking and communication processes. This association provides educators with a potentially powerful way to structure instruction.The significance of this study lies in the possibility that knowledge of text structure may create connections among the disciplines which could enhance understanding of content and promote thinking and communication skills. When students learn that various disciplines relate to each other and share common information that the brain can recognize and organize, then the students may maximize learning. Educators may actively improve education when they assist students in making such connections. |
