Erin McAlpin

EDRE 4860

November 2nd, 2017

Annotated Bibliography

1. Daiute, C., & Dalton, B. (1993). Collaboration between children learning to write:

Can novices be masters?. Cognition and instruction, 10(4), 281-333.

A study on a group of seven to nine-year-old children in third grade who wrote both

individual and collaborative stories over a 3-month period. The study focuses on whether

collaborating in writing at a young age is beneficial for end product in terms of creativity and

final product. Stories written by these students are analyzed in the study, in addition to a

transcript of the collaboration process that occurs between the students who collaborate

together as they create their stories. The focus of this study works on both intellectual and

social energies that students use and create in their text creations.

Peer collaboration has proved to be an effective catalyst to increased achievement in

writing, social studies, mathematics, and problem solving. (p. 285)

2. Ennis, R. P., Jolivette, K., & Losinski, M. (2017). The effects of writing choice

prompt on the written narratives of students with emotional and behavioral

disorders: A case study of an abandoned single-case design. Behavioral

Disorders, 42(4), 185-195.

This study was one of interest to me specifically because it involved the focal group of six

female students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The students had just completed

grades 7-10, and were working on what effects would occur when given the choice of their
own designed prompt for written narratives. Although this study was abandoned due to null

and/or countertherapeutic effects, I chose to include this study because it answered my

original question of whether writing prompts have a negative or positive affect on writing for

students. The fact that this study was unsuccessful because of the choice prompts leads me to

believe that there are specific cases where this strategy of writing isnt a one-size-fits-all

strategy to be used for all students.

A school-based definition of choice involves providing a student or group of students with a

verbal or written prompt that identifies two or more response options a student may make.

(p. 186)

3. Hudson, R. F., Lane, H. B., & Mercer, C. D. (2005). Writing prompts: The role of

various priming conditions on the compositional fluency of developing

writers. Reading and Writing, 18(6), 473-495.

This study looks into whether or not writing prompts effect the compositional fluency of

second-grade students, in addition to examining how differing spelling level and handwriting

fluency may or may not effect those results. Six separate narratives per student written in

reaction to writing prompts are analyzed for this study, particularly looking at different ways

that they can presented. Students are instructed to use copying, dictation, discussion,

discussion-copying, discussion-dictation, and topic for different presentation styles.

An examination of the results of assessments of written expression in the last decade

demonstrates that students in the fourth, eighth, and eleventh grades have not improved much

in their ability to write connected text to a prompt. (p. 474)

4. Joshua, M., Andrade, W. E., Garber-Budzyn, S., Greene, V., Hassan, E., Jones, N.

M., Valentine, S. (2007). The effects of pictures and prompts on the writing of
 students in primary grades: Action research by graduate students at California

State University, Northridge. Action in Teacher Education, 29(2), 80-93.

This particular study is more focused on how childrens writing can be affected when given

picture-specific prompts for writing, rather than just a word or question prompt. The study

worked with elementary students from kindergarten through second grade, and had two

phases of research. It is an interesting read because it delves into the theory of whether using

a picture alongside a writing prompt or simply a writing prompt without a picture has a better

affect on student writing. The results are interesting and seem to point to a need for necessary

background experience and understanding of the English language in order for students to be

truly successful. The results also showed that in kindergarten as well as with second-

language learners, a picture accompanying a writing prompt is best for writing success,

however for students first grade and above it is not.

We know that pictures and art as created by children and incorporated into the writing

process facilitate better writing by helping to shape childrens ideas and by providing them

with a tool for thinking through, organizing, and designing stories. (p. 82)

5. Roth, K., & Guinee, K. (2011). Ten minutes a day: The impact of interactive writing

instruction on first graders independent writing. Journal of Early Childhood

Literacy, 11(3), 331-361.

This article focused on a specific type of writing strategy called Interactive Writing that is

primarily used with young students in independent writing. The study used first graders from

an urban school in a densely populated metropolitan area. It examined the effects of students

writing ability and product when responding to a writing prompt after participating in

Interactive Writing learning. I chose this article because it not only looked into the uses of
writing prompts, but it also analyzed what happened when an additional writing strategy, that

of Interactive Writing, was included. The results showed that writing improved in both

independent writing for these students, but they also scored higher in nine out of 10 of

specific writing measures used in this study.

As the following vignette depicts, Interactive Writing is a collaborative literacy activity

during which the teacher and students work together to construct a meaningful text while

discussing the details of the writing process. (p. 332-333)

6. Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product (6th ed.).

Developing Strategic Writers: Generating (pp. 37-38). Boston: Pearson.

Teaching generating skills: explaining five strategies for generating ideas for writing stories

which include brainstorming, clustering, drawing, quick writing, and talking. Brainstorming

includes creating lists of words and phrases that pertain to a topic. Clustering has the

appearance of a spiders web or concept map, used to cluster the ideas that were

brainstormed to better organize. Drawing is for a younger audience of students, used by

drawing pictures that correspond with ideas that have been generated for writing. Quick

writing is thought of as quick bursts of thinking written on paper, usually written between

three to five minutes. Talking involves using partners and pairs to help with coming up with

and elaborating ideas.

Students use the generating strategy to gather ideas and collect words for writing. (p. 37)

7. Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product (6th ed.).

The Writing Process: Stage 1, Prewriting (pp. 6-7). Boston: Pearson.

Teaching prewriting skills: explaining how students can choose a topic that has a purpose,

and organize it into coherent thoughts. Considering choosing a topic, considering purpose,
considering audience, considering genre, and gathering & organizing ideas. This chapter was

very vocal in the importance of generating ideas for writing stories rather than automatically

knowing what the topic will be. The following quote deals with this sentiment exactly, and I

think that wraps into my question perfectly.

The traditional notion that writers have thought out their topic completely is ridiculous: if

writers wait for ideas to fully develop, theyll wait forever. (p. 6)

8. Zumbrunn, S., & Bruning, R. (2013;2012;). Improving the writing and knowledge of

emergent writers: The effects of self-regulated strategy development. Reading and

Writing, 26(1), 91-110.

This study focused primarily on the effects of using a specific strategy called Self-Regulated

Strategy Development (SRSD) for instruction involving the writing skills and understanding.

The participants of the study included six first grade students, and they wrote story based

writing after being instructed with the SRSD strategy. I chose this article because it is another

example of using picture prompts in writing, and it also incorporates a specific strategy

(SRSD) when exploring writing through picture prompts. I wanted to compile a list of

potential strategies to use in conjunction with implementing a written or picture prompt for

writing production and instruction. The results of this study were positive, and showed a

beneficial improvement for the first graders writing skills at the conclusion of using the

SRSD strategy alongside picture prompts.

If, as some research has shown, even very young writers are able to develop basic writing

and self-regulation skills, given a supportive instructional context, then systematically

developing such skills very early in the schooling years might help circumvent future writing

difficulties. (p. 92)