Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users, please click the view more button below to purchase a copy of this dissertation from Proquest.
(Some titles may also be available free of charge in our Open Access Dissertation Collection, so please check there first.)
Approval-guided learning: Its impact on self-esteem and written expression skills
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an approach which emphasized the use of approval-guided learning to teach written expression. Using a quasi-experimental, non-equivalant control group design, the experiment took place during the first six months of the school year. The sample was originally comprised of eighty-four students in grades three through five in southeastern Massachusetts. Two classes (experimental group) were instructed using the IPA writing approach which used approval-guided learning (providing praise for correct responses while not calling attention to errors or incompletions). The remaining two classes (control group) were taught writing skills using an approach where approval was not emphasized. Data from one class of the control group were not reported due to flawed test administration. The subjects were pre- and post-tested for written expression skills (assessing vocabulary, thematic maturity, spelling, style, and word usage) using a nationally normed, standardized test (TOWL). To determine self-esteem as writers, subjects were asked to report how they felt about themselves as writers using a writing survey developed by the researcher. Analysis of the data revealed no significant difference at the.05 level between the results of the experimental and control groups in written expression skills. The significance of t was at the.09 level. Examining the effects of gender on writing skills revealed females in the experimental group recorded significantly higher gains than females in the control group. Gender made no other significant differences. The data from the writing survey measuring self-esteem of students as writers resulted in the experimental group performing significantly better (at the.05 level) than students in the control group. Gender had no significant effect on results. Although results were not significant at the.05 level, the data suggests a trend towards the experimental group making greater gains than the control group in written expression skills and the experimental group reported greater gains in self-esteem as writers compared to control group students.
Subject Area
Curriculum development|Educational administration|Language arts
Recommended Citation
Greenberg, Steven R, "Approval-guided learning: Its impact on self-esteem and written expression skills" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9110144.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9110144