Adolescents’ writing in the content areas: National study results

Wilcox, K.C.; Jeffery, J.V. (2014)

Article / Letter to editor

While many adolescents in US school settings do not achieve basic levels of writing proficiency,

new standards and assessments hold all students, regardless of academic performance history

and language background, to higher standards for disciplinary writing. In response to calls for

research that can characterize a range of adolescents’ writing experiences, this study investigated

the amount and kinds of writing adolescents with different academic performance histories and

language backgrounds produced in math, science, social studies, and English language arts classes

in schools with local reputations of excellence. By applying categories of type and length, we

analyzed the writing of 66 students from California, Kentucky, New York, and Texas: 26 English

learners (L2) and 40 native English speakers (L1), of whom 19 were identified by school norms as

lower performing and 21 were identified as higher performing. We found the majority of writing

tasks adolescents completed did not require composing more than a paragraph. Exceptions were

essays in English language arts and persuasive essays and reports in social studies—almost half

of which were source-based tasks. In addition, considerable differences were noted in the range

of genres and amount of extended writing produced among L1 writers with histories of higher

performance in contrast with L1 writers with histories of lower performance and L2 writers.

These findings are discussed in light of Common Core State Standards shifts and the implications

they hold for content area teachers who teach adolescents with different achievement histories

and language backgrounds.

• Writing Instruction
• Adolescent Literacy

• All authors: Wilcox, K.C.; Jeffery, J.V.
• Date: 2014
• Journal: Research in the Teaching of English
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 168 - 176