| Writing is an essential skill for optimal success in school and in the workforce. While academic ability and skill are critical for successful writing outcomes, alone such factors are insufficient for optimal outcomes. How students view themselves and their abilities is critical to academic success and to persisting in the face of frustration and failure. Students with low levels of writing self-efficacy, high levels of writing apprehension, and who fail to use self-regulatory strategies are less likely to be skilled writers or pursue opportunities perceived to demand larger amounts of writing. Conversely, students with higher levels of writing self-efficacy, lower levels of writing apprehension, and who use self-regulatory strategies are more likely to be successful writers in high school and beyond. This embedded mixed methods research study investigated and analyzed the effects of a Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) based writing intervention on levels of writing self-efficacy, writing apprehension, strategy-use, and writing performance of high school students in two science classes. Grounded in Bandura's social cognitive theory, the study enhances quantitative data by incorporating qualitative data, notably a microanalysis component, the results showed that the intervention improved students' feelings about their abilities to write, ameliorated writing apprehension, increased their use of self-regulatory strategies, and boosted writing performance. Future research suggestions are presented and implications for educational practice are discussed. |
