Assessing the Writing Achievement of Young Struggling Writers: Application of Generalizability Theory

• Published in: Learning disability quarterly Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 72 - 82
• Main Authors: Graham, Steve, Hebert, Michael, Sandbank, Michael Paige, Harris, Karen R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Hammill Institute on Disabilities and SAGE Publications 01.05.2016; SAGE Publications; SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Academic achievement; At Risk Students; Childrens literature; Classroom communication; District of Columbia; Elementary education; Elementary school students; Essays; Generalizability Theory; Genre; Grade 2; Grade 3; Interviews; Literary Genres; Norm Referenced Tests; Readability Formulas; Scoring Formulas; Secondary school students; Special Series; Statistics; Story Telling; Student Writing Models; Teachers; Vocabulary; Writers; Writing; Writing (Composition); Writing Achievement; Writing assignments; Writing Difficulties; Writing Evaluation; Writing exercises; Writing instruction; Writing Tests; Written composition; Written narratives; District of Columbia; assessment; at risk; writing
• ISSN: 0731-9487; 2168-376X
• DOI: 10.1177/0731948714555019

This study examined the number of writing samples needed to obtain a reliable estimate of young struggling writers' capabilities. It further assessed if performance in one genre was reflective of performance in other genres for these children. Second-and third-grade students (81 boys, 56 girls), who were identified as struggling writers in need of special assistance by their teacher and scored at the 25th percentile or lower on a norm-referenced story-writing test, wrote four compositions: a story, personal narrative, opinion essay, and informative text. Applying generalizability theory (G-theory), students' scores on three writing measures (total number of words [TNW], vocabulary diversity, and writing quality) for the four compositions were each portioned into variance due to the following sources: students, writing tasks, and the interaction between students and writing tasks. We found that 14, 8, and 11 compositions, respectively, would be needed to obtain a reliable estimate of these students' writing capabilities in terms of TNW, vocabulary diversity, and writing quality. Furthermore, how well these students wrote in one genre provided a weak prediction of how well they wrote in other genres.