Q: Does a student’s perception of writing, help to improve writing skills? Q:Will the use of a blog improve students’ attitude towards, writing?

Research Design This type of research design is designated as a pre-experimental design, one-group pretest-posttest design. The single group is pretested (O), exposed to a treatment (X), and posttested (O). The Experiment Pretest (0) –Survey on students ’ attitude towards writing. –Writing assignment (persuasive writing) –Rubric Grade Treatment (X) –Writing assignment using a blog Posttest (O) –Post survey on students ’ attitudes towards writing –Rubric Grade

Threats to Internal Validity History: Pre-conceived notions about writing. Maturation: 6 th grade- developmental stage, which may cause emotional changes. This can lead to different feelings and attitudes towards writing. Instrumentation- Use of computer, use of a rubric Statistical Regression: Sample group is only 19 students. Generalizable conditions: Specific attitude towards something can be different for different types of students, depending on the school they attend and the experiences they have had with writing.

Threats to External Validity Specificity of Variables: Rubric that poorly measures the students’ writing. Experimenter effects: Researcher has prior knowledge about the students and their writing since the researcher has been teaching since the beginning of the term. The researcher may be biased when it comes to assessing the improvement in the students’ writing when using the blog. Novelty Effect: The use of a blog in order to write will probably be new to the students and they may be excited to write using a blog initially. As the novelty wares off their attitudes and improvements in the writing may change over time.

Pretest Survey Please fill in the number corresponding to your answer. 1=strongly disagree 2=disagree 3= Uncertain 4=Agree 5=Strongly agree I feel frustration when I am writing I feel anxiety when writing I feel excitement when writing I feel boredom when writing I feel interested when writing I feel calm when writing I feel happy when writing I feel confused when writing I feel creative when writing I feel autonomous when writing I feel relief when writing. I feel nervous when writing I feel despair when writing I feel satisfaction when writing I feel uncomfortable when writing

Survey Continued Part III: Frequencies 1=never 2=rarely 3=rarely 4=usually 5=always I write outside the classroom I write every day I look forward to the writing period I edit my work I revise my work I look for ways to improve my writing I think of myself as a good writer I think of myself as a poor writer There are many things I would like to improve in my writing There are many things I don ’ t understand about writing

Rxy: Here we can see a strong negative correlation. Students who responded negatively toward statements on their feelings towards writing, were more likely to get a low rubric grade on their writing. Rxy: Here we see a strong positive correlation. Students who responded positively towards writing, received a better rubric score on their writing. This shows that there is a strong correlation between a students ’ attitude towards writing and how they perform on their writing.

Average response to positive statements towards writing increased after students used the blog. Before the use of the blog 9% of students strongly agreed to positive statements. After the use of the blog 23% responded “strongly agree” to positive statements. Percentage of students who responded “strongly disagree” to positive statements before the use of the blog decreased to 20% after the use of the blog.

References O’Connor-Petruso, S. (2013). Descriptive Statistics Threats to Validity [PowerPoint slides].Retrievedfrom tab_tab_group_id=_50_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flau ncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_829166_1%26url%3D