Teaching character analysis: Developing precise trait vocabulary, assertions, and support

Research Questions. In what ways will focusing on writing strong assertions about characters using trait words and supporting those assertions with evidence from the text influence students' ability to write a character analysis essay? (1) To what extent will having students generate a class-based list of character trait words engage students in their character analysis writing? (2) How will the process of modeling by collaboratively writing a character analysis essay with students in class influence their writing character analysis essays?;Research Activities. Context. This research took place in an eighth-grade English classroom in an agricultural community in northern California. The class was comprised of 21 female students and 10 male students of various ability levels. Eight focus students, 5 female and 3 male, were selected. One of the male students was an EL student, and one of the female students was RFEP. Students were chosen from the Advanced to Basic range as determined by the California STAR test. Methods and Data. The intervention had two focuses: developing precise trait vocabulary and developing strong assertions and support for use in a character analysis essay. The entire intervention lasted approximately two months. Throughout the intervention, numerous activities were implemented to teach students trait vocabulary and effective ways to support a thesis statement. These activities included generating a class-based list of character traits, supporting assertions with specific textual evidence, engaging in a debate based on assertions and evidence, creating a rubric for a character analysis essay, discussing a teacher-modeled essay, and writing three separate character analysis essays. Pre- and post-intervention achievement data consisted of students' essay responses to a character analysis prompt in a timed 50-minute period. Essays were analyzed for exactness and accuracy of trait words present in the writing and a well-developed and supported thesis statement. Students were also given self-assessment surveys for pre- and post-intervention attitude data. Observation data were gathered during and after intervention activities in a teacher research journal. Results. The results of the intervention showed significant student improvement. Between the baseline and outcome achievement data sets, the scores for thesis and support shifted markedly from Below Basic and Basic to Proficient and Advanced. On the baseline data, only fourteen students (46%) in the target class scored Proficient or Advanced, but on the outcome data, twenty-six students (84%) scored in this range. Fourteen of those twenty-six (54%) scored Advanced, meaning that over half of the target class wrote essays containing well-developed thesis statements that were supported by several textual references. From baseline to outcome data, the scores for students' use of trait vocabulary also showed improvement. On the baseline data, no students scored Advanced and only five scored Proficient in the vocabulary category. The rest of the students scored Basic or Below Basic. On the outcome data, however, no students scored Basic or Below Basic, instead scoring Proficient (9 students, 29%) and Advanced (22 students, 71%). The significant majority of the class scored Advanced, meaning they used appropriate vocabulary and described the character they were analyzing through exact and accurate trait words. Students' indication of understanding both character analysis and thesis assertions and support also increased significantly from the baseline to outcome attitude data, as well as student confidence levels for writing a character analysis essay. For baseline data, only 27% of students reported they were "confident" and no students reported "very confident"; for outcome data, 40% of students reported "confident" and an additional 24% reported "very confident." Findings indicate that focused instruction that sequences work on skills over time should be used to improve the use of precise character trait vocabulary and the ability to support strong assertions in character analysis essays.;Grade. Eighth Grade;Research Methods. Writing Samples, Writing Assessment, Survey-Attitude, Survey-Concepts, Observation-Field Notes, Student Work;Curriculum Areas. English Language Arts, Writing;Instructional Approaches. Writing-Response to Literature, Writing-Rubrics, Modeling, Writing-Explicit Instruction...