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Research report

Increasing students' motivation towards writing

"In Québec, 52.5% of French-speaking students are classified as weak or incompetent in writing following the Grade 3 French proficiency tests, and more boys than girls are affected by this problem". In addition, the motivation to write among elementary students, which plays a key role in their success, seems to gradually decrease over the years, a phenomenon that is more pronounced in boys.

CASIS-Écriture, developed as part of an action research project, is aimed at Grade 2 teachers.

The CASIS-Écriture training program, based on the theory of self-determination, promotes the use of certain pedagogical practices that foster the development of motivational resources in the student, leading him or her to develop better writing skills. CASIS-Écriture, developed as part of an action research project, is aimed at Grade 2 teachers. Its goal is to assist teachers with the development of five pedagogical practices: collaboration, meaningful activities, supporting autonomy, involvement and structure. Seventeen teachers and three hundred of their students took part in a study to evaluate CASIS.

Our results show that CASIS-Écriture is effective for increasing students' writing motivation and skills. In answer to the question "How can we develop a better quality motivation towards writing in our students?", our findings suggest that teachers would benefit by enriching their writing activities to increase cooperation between students, allowing students to be more autonomous within a well-structures classroom context, making activities more meaningful to the students, and paying more attention to each student individually.

 

Main researcher: Frédéric Guay, Université Laval

Original title: Évaluer l'efficacité et l'impact du programme d'intervention "CASIS-écriture" pour augmenter la motivation d'élèves du primaire envers l'écriture

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