Date of Award:

5-2011

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department:

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Department name when degree awarded

Education (Curriculum and Instruction)

Advisor/Chair:

Sylvia Read

Abstract

Four adolescents identified as struggling writers in an English language arts classroom were interviewed about their perceptions of a writing task--how they judged their capability to succeed, how they ranked their passion, persistence, and confidence about writing, and how they responded to classroom activity. Student perceptions of self-efficacy and the related self-beliefs of motivation and interest as well as self-regulation were stated and implied as students described a planning worksheet, instructional scaffolding, peer interactions, and ownership of their writing. Wersch's view of mediated action and Engestrom's model of activity systems were the lens through which the students' descriptions were analyzed. Findings suggested surprisingly high self-efficacy despite low interest, contrasting attitudes between both school writing and their out-of-school writing, and the possibility that students labeled as struggling writers by their teachers may not see themselves as struggling.

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on December 23, 2010.

Copyright for this work is retained by the student.