What helps weak writers learn to write better? A pilot study in the Harvard Expository Writing Program.

摘要

This thesis investigates how weak writers fare in non-remedial expository writing classes and identifies how two common obstacles to writing improvement can be overcome. It focuses on activities that help students improve their writing and points to the importance of effective communication between students and teachers.;The students whose writing improved most were distinguished from those whose writing improved least by how they worked with their teachers. The students who improved least were hindered by two common obstacles to writing improvement: misunderstanding teachers' written and verbal comments about an essay and a lack of strategies for revising an essay. Students misunderstood teachers' comments in three ways: they didn't understand specific terms teachers used; their expectations about what their essays should accomplish differed from their teachers' expectations; and they misunderstood how their teachers wanted them to use the written comments. Even when students and teachers had a congruent understanding of the teacher's written comments, many students were unable to improve their essays because they lacked strategies for making the necessary revisions.;Only students whose writing improved most overcame both obstacles to writing improvement. To remedy misunderstandings about teachers' feedback, these students, or their teachers, initiated a dialogue in order to establish congruent views about the weaknesses in students' essays and the necessary revisions. To overcome the students' inability to make the necessary revisions, the teachers devised concrete, specific revision strategies, which the students used effectively.;This thesis recommends techniques for overcoming both types of obstacles, based on the actions of these students and their teachers.;For these purposes, forty-four first-year Harvard students and nineteen Expository Writing teachers were interviewed during the Fall semester of 1990. Students and teachers were asked about students' writing weaknesses and any activities that helped students improve their essays. A writing test was administered before and after students took an Expository Writing course to measure how, and how much, their writing improved. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to identify students whose writing improved most and students whose writing improved least.