An analysis of attitudes toward usage in the writing of ninth and twelfth-grade students: Implications for secondary language arts teachers

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of high school students toward English usage in their essay writing. Data was gathered to ascertain to what extent a randomly-selected group of students believed correct usage to be valuable and useful to their schoolwork and their careers. The investigator also compared the usage skills and attitudes of ninth grade writers with the usage skills and attitudes of twelfth grade writers to determine if motivation affects long-term performance.;Methods and procedures. The subjects for this study were randomly-selected ninth and twelfth grade students enrolled in one county school system of the Metropolitan Atlanta area. Fifty basic, fifty average, and fifty advanced ninth and twelfth grade students participated in the experiment. Students were given three prompts for writing an expository essay; they chose one topic for their essay. The essays were written during two fifty-minute class periods in the students' regular English classroom. Essays were evaluated by independent raters for usage errors. Raters used a checklist of fifty commonly occurring errors in idiomatic expressions and word mix-ups to evaluate the essays. The raters also kept frequency counts of the usage errors in agreement of subjects and verbs and the agreement of pronouns and antecedents. The data was compiled to form a profile of commonly occurring usage errors. In addition to the essay, each student completed a questionnaire on attitudes about correct usage. Nine ninth grade and nine twelfth grade students were interviewed. Each educational level was represented in the interviews.;Results and conclusions. Results showed that usage errors decreased in student essays from basic to advanced level learners in both the ninth and twelfth grades. However, the profile of commonly occurring usage errors noted mistakes that were common at all levels and in both grades. The results of the attitude survey and student interviews showed that the motivational level of writers at all learning levels was dependent upon writer anxiety, confidence in revision techniques, and interaction with the teacher as a mentor.