The effects of word processing and a process approach to writing on the reading and writing achievement, revision and editing strategies, and attitudes towards writing of third-grade Mexican-American students

This study investigated the effects of word processing and a process approach to writing on the reading and writing achievement, attitudes toward writing, and development of revision and editing in Mexican American third graders.;Forty-eight subjects from an innercity school in San Antonio, Texas, participated. Eight good and poor readers from each of three classrooms experienced three writing treatments: a grammar oriented product approach (Control group), a process approach in a regular classroom setting (Experimental 1), and the same process approach combined with word processing in a lab setting (Experimental 2). All the Experimental 2 subjects were bilingual. Because of administrative realities, most of the other subjects were monolingual.;Pre- and posttest data for achievement in reading (MAT-6 Total Reading) and writing (analytic ratings and word counts for descriptive writing samples) and posttest data for attitudes towards writing (researcher designed Likert scale) were collected from all subjects. All texts produced during the treatment were collected from the two experimental groups. The number and length of texts and all errors were recorded. Changes from first to final drafts were recorded for editing changes (error corrections) and revision changes (meaning changes). Revisions were classified as more and less "mature" and weighted accordingly.;Analysis of variance and a significance level of.05 were used. It was found that the word processing/bilingual group had significantly higher posttest reading achievement and attitudes toward writing. Although the differences were not significant, it also had higher posttest writing achievement. Analysis of the texts produced during treatment by the two experimental groups found that: (1) the word processing group produced longer texts and had fewer errors in both first and final drafts and (2) the group which did not do word processing produced more texts and made more mature revisions. Neither group did significantly better at editing their errors.;It was concluded that word processing combined with a process approach to writing can benefit bilingual third graders. Substantial administrative and teacher training support are recommended for optimal implementation. A replication of the study using only bilingual subjects and going from first through the third grade was suggested.