Date of Award:

5-2025

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Committee Chair(s)

Amy Piotrowski

Committee

Amy Piotrowski

Committee

Nicole Pyle

Committee

Suzanne Jones

Committee

Joyce Kinkead

Committee

Marla Robertson

Abstract

Writing instruction that emphasizes strategy use helps students become better writers, especially when tackling difficult writing tasks, such as writing from sources or writing syntheses. Strategic writing instruction also supports student learning in content areas like social studies. This project examined whether Strategies for Writing Synthesis to Learn (SWSL), a mode of strategic writing instruction developed by researchers in Spain, would be effective in a new context. It also sought to understand how SWSL was perceived by students and teachers. A mixed-methods case study was used to explore both quantitative (e.g., student growth) data and qualitative (e.g., student and teacher perceptions) data. Eleven sixth-grade students and their teacher shared their test results and perspectives following a 15-day social studies unit, with texts, tests, and scripts adapted from the original Spanish instruction. The unit highlighted texts about Ancient China and emphasized strategic writing skills, including outlining, self-regulation, and paraphrasing. After SWSL, students wrote better quality syntheses and knew more about a social studies topic. The researcher also found that students and teachers valued SWSL and believed that SWSL helped students of varied abilities.

Checksum

e77570cfb360d6be5e253b06be8fa3a2

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .