What We Know, What We Still Need to Know: Teaching Adolescents to Write

TLDR

The current understanding of effective adolescent writing instruction is based on three sources: a comprehensive meta‑analysis of experimental and quasi‑experimental studies, a meta‑analysis of single‑subject design studies, and a qualitative analysis of themes from studies of effective schools and teachers. This article examines what is known about effective adolescent writing instruction and outlines future research directions to further refine and contextualize evidence‑based interventions. The authors synthesize evidence from the three sources—meta‑analyses of experimental, quasi‑experimental, and single‑subject studies, along with qualitative theme analysis—to identify effective strategies for middle and high school writing instruction. Published by the.

Abstract

This article examines what we know about effective adolescent writing instruction and what we still need to know. What we know is established by bringing together the findings from three sources: a comprehensive meta-analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies (Graham & Perin, 2007 Graham, S. and Perin, D. 2007. Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high school. ), Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellence in Education. [Google Scholar]), a meta-analysis of single-subject design studies (conducted as part of this article), and an analysis of reoccurring themes from qualitative studies examining effective schools and teachers (conducted as part of this article). Recommendations for what we still need to know are linked to these three analyses but extend beyond them, specifying directions for future research and the need to contextualize research-based writing interventions.