Effects of a Motivational Intervention for Improving the Writing of Children with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Given that affective and cognitive processes interact in writing, it is important that interventions for developing writing ability focus both on strategies for developing motivation and cognitive processes. This article provides evidence for the efficacy of an instructional program that combines training in composition processes with strategies for developing motivation to achieve. Motivational training focused on multiple attributes: value and functional character, standards of performance, expectations, beliefs, self-efficacy, self-esteem and writing-related factors. Sixty-six fifth- and six-grade students with learning disabilities were assessed on a series of measures prior to and following the motivational intervention. Compared with a control group ( n=61), trained students showed significant improvements in the quality of their writing (measured in terms of text structure and coherence) and in their attitudes towards writing. They did not, however, show significant changes in productivity (quantity of text produced), self-esteem, beliefs and expectations, or in writing- related attributions.

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