Date of Award
5-5-2019
Degree Type
Certificate of Advanced Study
Program
Connecticut Literacy Specialist
Advisor
Dr. Karen C. Waters
Abstract
Researchers have found a connection between reading and writing instruction and the benefits the instruction has on students’ reading comprehension and writing expression. The purpose of this action research study was to explore the effectiveness of the use of mentor texts on the writing of 22 students in grade 3. Curricular methodology consisted of selected trade books used as mentor texts to represent the various genres and natural language structures inherent within children’s books so that students had consistent models of good writing as they attempted to emulate various authors’ styles of writing. Data collection consisted of a teacher-made questionnaire and teacher-created pre and post writing assessments for sentence construction and paragraph writing. Additionally, rubrics evaluated the quality of student writing. The study indicated that the use of mentor texts for writing instruction, taken together with a writers’ workshop approach, was an effective means for supporting student writing in genres inclusive of opinion, informational, and narrative writing. As students acquired the tools for becoming proficient writers, they wrote with excitement, confidence, and independence. The findings confirmed the theory that the use of mentor texts increased the quality of student writing; subsequently, students made the transition from genre writing to apply the skills across the curriculum.
Recommended Citation
Sudhoff, Dana, "Spotlight on Using Mentor Texts in Writing Instruction: Turning to Books for Ideas" (2019). Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Literacy. 11.
https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/lit/11
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Included in
Higher Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
Comments
Prepared for EDR 692 Applied Reading and Language Arts Research. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the coursework required for the post-masters' Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Literacy.