Is There Any Evidence Of Writing Across The Curriculum?

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Studies of instruction in the early 1980s suggested that while English language arts classes are the most likely to focus on writing, students write more for their other subjects combined than they do for English (Applebee, Contexts). This in turn has a significant effect on their development as writers.

Student reports on NAEP items suggest that their writing for other subjects continues to represent a substantial part of their total writing experiences. In 2007, 69% of eighth-grade students reported writing of at least paragraph length at least Cartier Replica once a week for English, together with 44% for social studies, 30% for science, and 13% for math. Twelfth-grade students reported somewhat more writing for English (77%) and somewhat less for each of the other content areas: 42% for social studies, 21% for science, and 8% for math.

These results on writing in the content areas also show small but significant declines of 2 percentage points in emphasis at Grade 8 between 2002 and 2007 for English, social studies, and science. Twelfth grade again ...
... shows a different pattern, with small but significant increases for English (3 percentage points) and social studies (2 points) over this period

One of the biggest changes to affect the teaching of writing in the past two decades has been the spread of technology, and with it the development of powerful word-processing software and Internet resources. The National Commission on Writing was enthusiastic about the potential benefits of technology for writing instruction, and reviews of research on the effect of word processing on students' writing achievement support that enthusiasm (Bangert-Drowns; Graham and Perin). In general the use of word-processing software has a positive effect on the development of writing abilities, and particularly so for underachieving students.

The spread of technology is readily apparent in NAEP data. In 1984, 20% or fewer of middle school and high school students reported using computers in their writing; by 1994, over 90% reported doing so (Campbell, Voelkl, and Donahue 191).

After 1996, NAEP began to ask more specific questions about the ways in which computers were being used. Figure 6 summarizes student responses in 2002 and 2007. The majority of eighth- and twelfth-grade students report that they "almost al-ways" use the Internet to look for information to use in a paper or report, with twelfth-grade Cartier Replica Watches students being even more likely to do so than eighth-grade students. Interestingly, Internet use to gather information is consistently reported more frequently than is the use of word processing for writing and editing a draft. In fact, in 2007, only 26% of eighth-grade students reported that they "almost always" use a computer from the beginning to write their first draft, though 44% reported using a computer for such editing functions as spell-checking or cutting and pasting. Twelfth-grade students showed a similar pattern, though with more frequent use of the computer for both drafting and revising.