Reading/Writing Relationships: An Intervention Study

Students in two sixth-grade classes in each of two schools (N=104) were stratified by sex and ability and randomly assigned to one of the following groups for 1. instruction in a model of persuasion with writing practice; 2. instruction in a model of persuasion with reading practice; 3. practice in reading, but no instruction in the model; and 4. group discussion activities (control group). Pretests and posttests required subjects to write a recall protocol for a persuasive reading and to write two persuasive compositions. Groups 1 and 2 scored significantly higher than the control group on the posttest but not on the pretest, using fewer reasons and more elaborations of reasons per 100 words, and more conclusions than the control group. There were no significant differences between groups on the number of idea units recalled. Persuasive writing can be improved by instruction.