Effects of Discipline-Specific Strategy Instruction on Historical Writing Growth of Students With Writing Difficulties. (May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wissinger, Daniel R.; De La Paz, Susan
• Other Names: Barnett Anna L. guest-editor.; Connelly Vincent guest-editor.; Miller Brett guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of learning disabilities. Volume 53:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 199
• Page End: 212
• Publication Date: 2020-05
• Subjects: historical strategy instruction -- students with writing difficulties -- upper elementary; Learning disabilities -- Periodicals; 371.905
• DOI: 10.1177/0022219420904343
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-2194

Abstract

This article reports the results from a study investigating the effects of a discipline-specific reading and writing intervention (I3C/PROVE IT!) with fourth and fifth graders. Participants included 237 students with writing difficulties (WD) from an initial pool of 608 upper elementary school students in a larger study. Teachers and students were randomly assigned to I3C/PROVE IT! or business-as-usual conditions and then provided instruction on reading historical documents and writing evidence-based arguments. Findings indicated that over a period of almost 3 months, the historical writing growth trajectories of students with WD in I3C/PROVE IT! classrooms were significantly greater than their peers in business-as-usual classrooms. Significant findings favoring I3C/PROVE IT! students also generalized to domain-general measures. This study provides evidence for the benefits of discipline-specific interventions in social studies for students with WD. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.