Writing Between the Lines--and Everywhere Else!

What Teenagers Call Writing
A 2008 study titled Writing, Technology and Teens from the National Commission on Writing and the Pew Internet and American Life Project confirms that 86 percent of teenagers believe that writing well is important to success in life. The data shows that while most write online frequently and for varied purposes, they do not consider their emails, text messages, and blog posts as “real” writing. In fact, 73 percent said that their online writing made no difference to their school writing. Among other findings from that study:

• Teens report that they write more frequently in school than outside of school; while they write almost daily in school, 82 percent said that their typical school writing assignment is short—a paragraph to a page.
• 77 percent of teens felt that their writing had improved in the past year; 53 percent said that the writing instruction they had received in school was a major factor in changing their writing, but only 25 percent thought that their out-of-school writing was a major factor.
• Conversely, while only 17 percent of teens enjoyed school writing a great deal, 49 percent said that they enjoyed non-school writing a great deal.
• In follow-up focus groups, teens reported that what motivates them to write in school are relevant, interesting, self-selected topics, coupled with feedback from adults who paid attention and challenged them.

So, the study suggests that while students may enjoy writing outside of school more than writing for school purposes, they see little relationship between out-of-school and more formal school writing, and clearly still see academic writing as “counting” more than writing for pleasure or other self-determined purposes.

What Parents Believe about Writing
The same Writing, Technology and Teens study indicates that parents notice the importance of digital writing more than their children do, and they share the belief that writing is more important to future success than ever (83 percent of parents reported that there is a greater need to write well today than there was 20 years ago). Additionally, 48 percent of parents believe that their own children write more than they did at the same age (only 31 percent said that their children write less, and 20 percent believe that their children write about as much as they did).

As the table below indicates, parents tend to believe that writing with computers has a more positive impact than students believe it does:

Everyone has the capacity to write, writing can be taught, and teachers can help students become better writers

Though poets and novelists may enjoy debating whether or not writing can be taught, teachers of writing have more pragmatic aims. Setting aside the question of whether one can learn to be an artistic genius, there is ample empirical evidence that anyone can get better at writing, and that what teachers do makes a difference in how much students are capable of achieving as writers.

Developing writers require support. This support can best come through carefully designed writing instruction oriented toward acquiring new strategies and skills. Certainly, writers can benefit from teachers who simply support and give them time to write. However, instruction matters. Teachers of writing should be well-versed in composition theory and research, and they should know methods for turning that theory into practice. When writing teachers first walk into classrooms, they should already know and practice good composition. However, much as in doctoring, learning to teach well is a lifetime process, and lifetime professional development is the key to successful practice. Students deserve no less.

by the Writing Study Group of the NCTE Executive Committee, November 2004