Learning to read and write efficiently is of the utmost importance in elementary school. However,... more Learning to read and write efficiently is of the utmost importance in elementary school. However, writing is frequently difficult and can be demotivating for beginning writers. Fortunately these barriers can be partially alleviated with parental help. Many studies showed that parental involvement influences children’s competence and motivation in reading, but little is known about the benefits of parental involvement in writing. We report on an intervention program to promote parental involvement in writing and a test of its efficacy. Forty-eight second graders were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 22) or to a waiting list (n = 26). Parents in the intervention group attended the program Cultivating Writing in which they discussed how to better support their children towards writing. Parents also trained an interaction sequence for effectively praising and making suggestions concerning their children’s texts. Over 10 weeks, teachers asked students to write four stories as home assignment. While children in the waiting list composed texts alone, children in the intervention group composed texts with their parents. When compared to children in the waiting list, those in the intervention group improved in some transcription measures and wrote longer and better texts. These findings indicate that parental involvement in writing is important and seems effective in fostering children’s writing skills.
Se analiza el uso que el profesorado de educación obligatoria afirma hacer en su enseñanza de la... more Se analiza el uso que el profesorado de educación obligatoria afirma hacer en su enseñanza de la escritura de prácticas instruccionales efectivas, derivadas de una revisión de meta-análisis en el ámbito de la instrucción en escritura. Se consideraron las diferencias en el uso de estas prácticas a lo largo de la educación obligatoria y la influencia que tienen variables del docente, como su eficacia, sus actitudes y su preparación. Participaron 515 docentes de Lengua Castellana y Literatura de diferentes colegios e institutos de enseñanza secundaria de Castilla y León. Se aplicó de forma online un cuestionario sobre la frecuencia de uso de prácticas instruccionales cuya eficacia ha sido contrastada a nivel científico, derivadas de una exhaustiva revisión de estudios de meta-análisis de la instrucción en escritura. Se tomaron adicionalmente medidas sobre las creencias de eficacia personal y general del profesorado, las actitudes hacia la escritura y su enseñanza y el nivel de prepa...
Abstract Over the last three decades, research in this field has addressed different early litera... more Abstract Over the last three decades, research in this field has addressed different early literacy skills and studied the pedagogical practices that promote the initial learning of reading and writing skills. This study develops a programme that promotes early literacy skills, called Ouvir as Letras (Listen to the Letters). The efficacy of the programme was evaluated in comparison with two implementations of the Portuguese preschool education curriculum: one structured and the other semi-structured, in a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up. The study was carried out with the participation of 124 five- and six-year-old children who attended preschool in four schools in the north of Portugal. The results suggest that the Ouvir as Letras programme was more effective in facilitating the acquisition of basic skills to initiate children in the learning of written language.
Learning to read and write efficiently is of the utmost importance in elementary school. However,... more Learning to read and write efficiently is of the utmost importance in elementary school. However, writing is frequently difficult and can be demotivating for beginning writers. Fortunately these barriers can be partially alleviated with parental help. Many studies showed that parental involvement influences children’s competence and motivation in reading, but little is known about the benefits of parental involvement in writing. We report on an intervention program to promote parental involvement in writing and a test of its efficacy. Forty-eight second graders were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 22) or to a waiting list (n = 26). Parents in the intervention group attended the program Cultivating Writing in which they discussed how to better support their children towards writing. Parents also trained an interaction sequence for effectively praising and making suggestions concerning their children’s texts. Over 10 weeks, teachers asked students to write four stories as home assignment. While children in the waiting list composed texts alone, children in the intervention group composed texts with their parents. When compared to children in the waiting list, those in the intervention group improved in some transcription measures and wrote longer and better texts. These findings indicate that parental involvement in writing is important and seems effective in fostering children’s writing skills.
Se analiza el uso que el profesorado de educación obligatoria afirma hacer en su enseñanza de la... more Se analiza el uso que el profesorado de educación obligatoria afirma hacer en su enseñanza de la escritura de prácticas instruccionales efectivas, derivadas de una revisión de meta-análisis en el ámbito de la instrucción en escritura. Se consideraron las diferencias en el uso de estas prácticas a lo largo de la educación obligatoria y la influencia que tienen variables del docente, como su eficacia, sus actitudes y su preparación. Participaron 515 docentes de Lengua Castellana y Literatura de diferentes colegios e institutos de enseñanza secundaria de Castilla y León. Se aplicó de forma online un cuestionario sobre la frecuencia de uso de prácticas instruccionales cuya eficacia ha sido contrastada a nivel científico, derivadas de una exhaustiva revisión de estudios de meta-análisis de la instrucción en escritura. Se tomaron adicionalmente medidas sobre las creencias de eficacia personal y general del profesorado, las actitudes hacia la escritura y su enseñanza y el nivel de prepa...
Abstract Over the last three decades, research in this field has addressed different early litera... more Abstract Over the last three decades, research in this field has addressed different early literacy skills and studied the pedagogical practices that promote the initial learning of reading and writing skills. This study develops a programme that promotes early literacy skills, called Ouvir as Letras (Listen to the Letters). The efficacy of the programme was evaluated in comparison with two implementations of the Portuguese preschool education curriculum: one structured and the other semi-structured, in a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up. The study was carried out with the participation of 124 five- and six-year-old children who attended preschool in four schools in the north of Portugal. The results suggest that the Ouvir as Letras programme was more effective in facilitating the acquisition of basic skills to initiate children in the learning of written language.
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Papers by Rui A Alves