Research Jamal Abedi Christian Faltis

Impact of the WRITE Program on English Language Learner Achievement and Teacher Instructional Practice

Through this study, professors Jamal Abedi and Christian Faltis investigating the impact of the WRITE Tier 2 writing program on the academic performance of English Language Learner (ELL) students and on teacher instructional practices in middle and high schools. 

The WRITE Tier 2 writing program uses a three-pronged approach to the teaching of writing with ELL students: 1) Thinking Like a Writer: meta-cognition regarding “what good writers do;” 2) Academic Cultural Literacy: genre-specific academic discourse awareness; and 3) Writing Skills: explicit writing skills instruction through authentic student-based writing tasks that focus on writing as a process and that are designed to meet the needs of English learners at all language proficiency levels. 

This four-year study (May 2011-April 2015) funded by West Ed utilizes two complementary designs, conducted in two phases.

The first phase (Phase I) used a quasi-experimental research design to obtain data from middle and high schools in California that have implemented the WRITE Tier 2 program for at least two years compared to matched schools that have not.

The second phase (Phase II) uses an experimental study design in which teachers in randomly selected middle school samples were assigned as an entire school to either a treatment group in which they received WRITE Tier 2 training or to a control group with no WRITE Tier 2 training. The findings from these two designs will be supplemented with surveys and qualitative interviews that investigate changes in student metacognition, teacher efficacy toward teaching writing, and teacher instructional practices. 

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