Gert Rijlaarsdam

University of Amsterdam | UVA · Research Institute for Child Development and Education

Writing a synthesis text involves interacting reading and writing processes, serving the comprehension of source information, and its integration into a reader-friendly and accurate synthesis text. Mastering these processes requires insight into process’ orchestrations. A way of achieving this is via process feedback in which students compare their...

This volume brings together the perspectives of new and established scholars who have connected with the broad fields of first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing to discuss critically key methodological developments and challenges in the study of L2 writing processes. The focus is on studies of composing and of engagement with feedback...

To investigate whether a creative writing unit in upper secondary education would improve students’ creative as well as argumentative text quality and to examine whether it would change students’ writing behavior, we tested a creative writing unit based on encouraging writing in flow by using divergent thinking tasks. Four classes (Grade 10) partic...

This study reports on the design and evaluation of an instructional unit, aimed at improving secondary school students’ disciplinary writing in history. Central to this design was the replacement of conventional workbook exercises by evaluative source-based writing tasks which were co-developed with participating history teachers. Additionally, an...

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have changed the nature of instructional writing practices. This has led to the need to incorporate ICTs into traditional practices, requiring knowledge of the content, uses and pedagogical potential of ICTs. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore which of the activities in the teaching of writin...

The study investigated how different prewriting instructions support English as a Foreign Language student writers in their generation of arguments and therefore improved the quality of text and self-efficacy in writing. Participants included 142 Vietnamese students at the upper-intermediate level in English. Three forms of prewriting interventions...

Language use provides a window on the world and makes it possible to analyze and understand natural and human phenomena without direct observation. We share knowledge about humans and the world through all sorts of texts, including fictional, factual, verbal, and pictorial ones. Language teachers support their students’ development of competencies...

In this chapter, we discuss three basic design principles for creating or redesigning effective writing lessons: initiate communication and metacommunication, demonstrate procedures, and differentiate. These principles should guide the (re)design process and can be used for describing and evaluating instructional units. We consider these principles...

This study aims to explore effective ways in which students can learn to write synthesis texts. First, through a systematic literature search we found 16 (quasi-)experimental studies from 6th grade to undergraduate level in the field of learning to write source-based synthesis texts, that met our inclusion criteria. Second, we formulated a general...

Abstract: National assessments yield a description of the proficiency level in a domain while accounting for differences between tasks. For instance, in writing assessments the level of proficiency is typically evaluated with a variety of topics and multiple tasks. This enables generalizations from specific tasks to a domain. In (quasi-)experimenta...

Literacy acquisition in children’s L1 and L2 contributes to academic success, and embraces and supports children’s backgrounds and identity formation. However, limited education can prevent bilingual children from developing their writing fluency on the same level in L1 and L2. An analysis of writing fluency can show aspects that require more or le...

This intervention study aimed to test the effect of writing process feedback. Sixty-five Grade 10 students received a personal report based on keystroke logging data, including information on several writing process aspects. Participants compared their writing process to exemplar processes of equally scoring (position-setting condition) or higher-s...

Synthesis writing is a type of source-based writing that requires writers to synthesize the information from different sources into a new and meaningful text. A synthesis task is a cognitively demanding, so-called hybrid task (Spivey & King, 1989) as it involves both reading and writing activities that alternate throughout the process. When carryin...

Writing and reading: the construction of comprehension

El incremento en la utilización de las nuevas tecnologías dentro del ámbito educativo ha cambiado la naturaleza de las prácticas instruccionales en escritura, derivando en el desarrollo de múltiples herramientas digitales centradas en su mejora. El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar el diseño instruccional implementado en prácticas de escritura...

In this study we examine process configurations in synthesis tasks. We study whether these configurations are students traits or vary within students per task. In a national survey with a representative sample of 658 Dutch upper-secondary school students, we collected writing tasks, registered students’ writing behaviors (via keylogging) and their...

This article addresses the basis for the development of the screening tool Norwegian Early Writers Signal (NEWS). The aim of the study was to develop a tool for teachers in grades 1-3 to identify student texts in 'the Warning Zone' , i.e., texts that signal insufficient overall text quality associated with students in need of extra instructional su...

This article addresses the basis for the development of the screening tool Norwegian Early Writers Signal (NEWS). The aim of the study was to develop a tool for teachers in grades 1–3 to identify student texts in ‘the Warning Zone’, i.e., texts that signal insufficient overall text quality associated with students in need of extra instructional sup...

Nowadays, the immersion of new technologies in society has led to the reformulation of writing instruction practices, resulting in the creation of multiple technological tools focused on improve students’ writing skills. Based in this, the general aim of this study is to analyze technological tools whose effectiveness to improve students’ written c...

This study examines specific exploration activities in students’ visual arts portfolios from secondary education. Creating original visual arts products requires exploration according to Getzels and Csiksentmihalyi (The creative vision. A longitudinal study of problem finding in Art. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1976). Obtaining insight about...

Literacy acquisition in children’s L1 and L2 contributes to academic success, and embraces and supports children’s backgrounds and identity formation. However, limited education can prevent bilingual children from developing their writing fluency on the same level in L1 and L2. An analysis of writing fluency can show aspects that require more or le...

This study aimed to provide evidence for continuing the innovation of writing instruction in Grades 7-12 of Chilean public schools. Teachers' beliefs influence their curricular interpretations; therefore, these beliefs play a key role when aiming for educational innovation. Hence, we investigated the relations between Language teachers' current pra...

Studies have shown that inferential questions encourage a more in‐depth understanding of texts and that students need to learn appropriate strategies for answering them, particularly when they deal with multiple texts. In this experimental study, the authors aimed to improve eighth‐grade students’ (13‐ to 14‐years old) ability to answer intra‐ and...

The current experimental study replicates and expands on the Yummy Yummy intervention study focusing on the role of observation in learning-to-write (Rijlaarsdam et al., 2008, 2009) that included 210 grade-7 students in seven classes from seven schools who were randomly assigned to one of two intervention roles: “readers” (tasked with text selectio...

The current two studies examined the effects of an instructional unit on synthesis writing for 9th grade students on holistic text quality. Because students' writing routines have been shown to affect the effectiveness of writing instruction, we designed a unit that aimed to be equally effective for all writers, regardless of their routines. On two...

This study aimed to establish (a) whether teaching students revision skills provides benefit over and above teaching strategies for setting explicit goals for the communicative effect of their text, and (b) whether teaching students to adopt specific revision strategies provides benefits over revision instruction that focusses on increasing student...

Dialogical argumentation practice contributes positively to argumentative writing skills. Specifically, deliberative dialogues are effective in promoting argument and counterargument integration in students' essays. However, the potential of dialogic activities may be increased if they are combined with instructional practices. The primary objectiv...

Source-based writing is a common but difficult task in history and philosophy. Students are usually taught how to write a good text in language classes. However, it is also important to address discipline-specificity in writing, a topic likely to be taught by content teachers. In order to design discipline-specific writing instruction, research nee...

Research has shown that writers seem to follow different writing strategies to juggle the high cognitive demands of writing. The use of writing strategies seems to be an important cognitive writing-related variable which has an influence on students' writing behavior during writing and, therefore, on the quality of their compositions. Several studi...

The aim of this study was to gain insight into writing processes of secondary school students when con-fronted with fictional and expressive creative writing prompts compared to argumentative writing prompts. Twenty participants (Grade 10-11) each wrote eight texts, four based on creative prompts, the other four based on argumentative prompts, with...

This paper reports on the systematic design and evaluation process of a learning unit for 9th grade students, aimed at learning to write synthesis texts. The unit was based on design principles derived from a review of effective synthesis writing interventions and general principles of effective learning. To evaluate the quality of this unit, we co...

Doctoral students face many challenges when writing research articles. However, little is known about how they regulate their writing process in a natural context, due partially to the lack of methods to explore writing regulation from a situated perspective. The present study aims at demonstrating a method to explore doctoral students' writing reg...

Writing a synthesis text-a text that integrates information from different sources-forms part of the educational curriculum of Dutch secondary education. Representative information on students' synthesis writing skills is currently missing. Therefore, we carried out a national survey on synthesis writing in the three highest grades of pre-universit...

Producing a meaningful written discourse in a foreign language requires a high cognitive effort of EFL learners. They face challenges caused by L2 word or grammar-related difficulties, and also by the L2 genre and genre conventions that may be quite different from what they experienced in their L1. The present study focusses on the support offered...

Rijlaarsdam, G., Janssen, T., Braaksma, M., van Steendam, E., van den Branden, K., Couzijn, M., & Verheyden, L. (2013). Learning and instruction in writing. In C. A. Stone, E. R. Silliman, B. J. Ehren, & G. P. Wallach (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy development and disorders. - 2nd ed. (pp. 545-566). New York Guilford Press.

Since 2010, efforts have been made in Chile to support students' writing skills development, in order to better prepare them for participation in modern society. However, more knowledge about current practices of writing instruction in Grades 7-12 is needed to guide future improvements in these educational levels. We aimed to provide a context-base...

Intervention studies in L1 language arts and literature classrooms are pivotal to investigate the effects of instructional approaches that have been purposefully designed to achieve certain learning outcomes. Ideally, design principles, design procedures and the resulting interventions (i.e., lessons, projects, materials) would be comprehensively d...

This paper presents a secondary analysis of data collected during an intervention study in which students learnt to synthesise pairs of texts presenting opposite views on controversial issues. The original intervention study included two treatments and examined the effects of two instruction conditions when instructional materials and tasks were he...

In order to design effective instruction and feedback for synthesis writing on both writing processes and products, a clear insight into synthesis writing processes underlying a high-quality synthesis text is crucial. That is why this study, as one of the first, examines the use of sources during synthesis writing processes, and its effect on text...

We report on the design process of a literature classroom intervention for 15-year-old students in the Netherlands, which aimed to foster their insight into human nature―insight into themselves, fictional others, and real-world others. Starting from a model of transformative reading, an exploration of the educational context, and a review of previo...

This special issue is the first issue in the history of 20 years of the L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature on Oracy. That might be an indication of the lack of research in L1-oracy. With this special issue we would like to stimulate other re-searchers in L1-Education to study oracy.

This quasi-experimental study assessed the effects of the newly developed Transformative Dialogic Literature Teaching (TDLT) intervention on 15-year-old students' insight into human nature, eudaimonic reasons for reading, use of reading strategies, and motivation for literature education. Six TDLT units centered around short stories about "justice...

The aim of this study was to test whether Cummins’ Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis (LIH) might also apply to writing, by determining to what extent writers’ text quality, source use and argumentation behavior are related in L1 and L2, how effective writers’ behavior is and whether their L2 proficiency influenced the relations between them. To...

Critical thinking and cognitive well-being are commonly associated to tendencies that do not come natu-rally to humans: inhibition of automatized cognitive processing (de-automatization) and thoughtful (re)construction of meaning. A previous study showed that students' growth in literary interpretation skills can be partly explained by skills and d...

Sinds 2006 zijn drie scholen in Amsterdam en drie scholen in Almere als Academische Opleidingsscholen met de universitaire en de hbo-lerarenopleiding van Amsterdam aan het werk om onderwijs, onderzoek, opleiding en onderwijsontwikkeling met elkaar te verbin- den. Onderzoek doen, door vo-docenten, in het kader van innovatie en/of professionalise- ri...

In this review, we explore whether and how literature education may foster adolescent students’ insight into human nature. A systematic search of five databases was complemented with citation tracking, hand searches, and expert consultation. We included 13 experimental and quasi-experimental intervention studies. Methodological quality and quality-...

This study examines the use of Seychelles Creole (hereafter, Kreol Seselwa), and English as languages for testing knowledge in the Social Studies classroom of the Seychelles. The objective of the study was to ascertain whether the languages used in the test affected the pupils’ academic performance. The paper is theoretically influenced by the Soci...

In this study we present a comparative report of two effective instructional programs focused on the improvement of upper-primary students' writing competence through the promotion of revision skills. Both programs shared the main aim but had two different approaches. We contrasted writer-focused instruction with reader-focused instruction. To prov...

In learning to write in English, students from so-called interdependent cultures might face the clashes of the communication conventions of their mother tongue and of English as a Foreign Language. Prewriting tasks might overcome these difficulties in learning to write in English. The effects of two prewriting tasks, group discussion and free writi...

This study aims to explore effective ways in which students can learn to write synthesis texts. First, through a systematic literature search we found 16 (quasi-)experimental studies from 6 th grade to undergraduate level in the field of learning to write source-based synthesis texts, that met our inclusion criteria. Second, we formulated a general...

This study aims to explore effective ways in which students can learn to write synthesis texts. First, through a systematic literature search we found 16 (quasi-)experimental studies from 6 th grade to undergraduate level in the field of learning to write source-based synthesis texts, that met our inclusion criteria. Second, we formulated a general...

Synthesis writing, systematic literature review, design principles, learning activities

Schrijven is een ingewikkeld proces dat bij onervaren schrijvers kan leiden tot overbelasting van het werkgeheugen. Om overbelasting te voorkomen ontwikkelen veel schrijvers een eigen routine: een vaste aan-pak die voor hen het beste werkt. Liselore van Ockenburg, Daphne van Weijen en Gert Rijlaarsdam onderzochten of schrijfaanpak samenhangt met de...

Call for papers for Special Issue for L1 - Educational Studies in Language and Literature. See details in document below. Abstracts of maximum 300 words should be submitted through the L1 Publication Platform (https://l1.publication-archive.com/login, by July 2, 2018). For further inquiries, please contact Marloes Schrijvers at M.S.T.Schrijvers@u...

We implemented an intervention of four lessons and tested the effects of two instructional modes as compared to the regular curriculum practices for completing a synthesis task at the preparatory program of a Turkish university. Participants were 48 upper-intermediate English as a Foreign Language learners (mean age = 18) assigned to three conditio...

We implemented an intervention of four lessons and tested the effects of two instructional modes as compared to the regular curriculum practices for completing a synthesis task at the preparatory program of a Turkish university. Participants were 48 upper-intermediate English as a Foreign Language learners (mean age = 18) assigned to three conditio...

The aim of this study was to provide insight into the current practice of writing instruction in Dutch primary education, as a stepping stone for designing and implementing sustainable innovations that could satisfy both practitioners and policymakers. We investigated the extent to which three domain-specific approaches—communicative writing, proce...

In two experimental studies, we examined the effects of types of written production mode (hypertext writing versus linear writing, Study 1 and 2) and learning mode (performance versus observational learning, Study 2). Participants in Study 1 (Grade 10) were initiating the more formal academic argumentative text, while in Study 2 students (Grade 11)...

Bij het schoolvak beeldende vormgeving is het belangrijk dat leerlingen divergent leren denken om originele concepten te generen voor het ont werpen van beeldende producten. Leerlingen die door expliciete instructie weten hoe divergent denken werkt en hun eigen denkproces kunnen monitoren en beheersen, blijken beter in staat originele ideeën te bed...

Feedback in schrijfvaardigheidsonderwijs gaat over de kwaliteit van teksten en moet leerlingen helpen hun schrijfvaardigheid verder te ontwikkelen. Dat zal voor een deel betekenen dat zij hun schrijfproces anders aan moeten pakken: de betere hardloopcoach zegt zijn pupillen immers niet dát, maar hóe zij harder moeten lopen. In het voortgezet onder...

Het schrijven van teksten, gebaseerd op verscheidene bronnen, zogenaamde syntheseteksten, is een belangrijke vaardigheid in het hoger onderwijs. Wie daar niet goed genoeg in is, zal niet makkelijk goede studieresultaten boeken. In het vwo is er over het algemeen echter nog weinig aandacht voor dit soort moeilijke teksten. Er is ook nauwelijks leerm...

The present experimental study examined whether a different focus during a pre-task planning observation task affects learners’ subsequent oral task performance. Forty-eight ninth-grade students learning German as a foreign language were randomly assigned to two different planning conditions: video observations with a focus on language (FonL) and v...

This study examined the effects of an innovative comprehensive writing program in upper primary education on students’ writing performance and on teachers´ classroom practices, beliefs and skills. The program focused on the communicative nature of writing, on writing as a process, and on explicit teaching of five genre-specific writing strategies....