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THE ATTITUDES OFTEACHERS AND THEIRPUPILS TO WRITTENEXPRESSIONC. I. Rapstoff aa Senior Remedial Teacher , SchoolPsychological Service , BirminghamPublished online: 06 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: C. I. Rapstoff (1964) THE ATTITUDES OF TEACHERSAND THEIR PUPILS TO WRITTEN EXPRESSION, Educational Review, 17:1,31-40, DOI: 10.1080/0013191640170103

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0013191640170103

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THE ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS ANDTHEIR PUPILS TO WRITTEN

EXPRESSIONby C. I. RAPSTOFF

Senior Remedial Teacher, School Psychological Service, Birmingham

I . OBJECTS OF THE RESEARCH

SINCE Hartog condemned the teaching of written English in theschools as, "Writing anything about something for everybody"(i), and Robert Louis Stevenson contemptuously dismissed the

composition lesson as, "sedulous aping of the great essayists", therehas been a movement away from formal, imitative, essay writingtowards development of the child's skill to express himself in writing,in a variety of social situations. The use of terms such as' 'expression''and "communication" rather than "composition", or "essay", areindicative of this trend.

From this changing emphasis and the claims of its exponents arosethe research reported here. There were three main questions whichthe research was designed to answer.

(i) What are the methodological attitudes of teachers to writtenexpression in relation to the new approaches advocated bythe educational and research literature?

(ii) How do the different types of school compare in theirresponsiveness to these new ideas?

(iii) How are the attitudes of pupils to written expression relatedto the methods and attitudes adopted by their teachers?

A questionnaire scaled according to the methods of Thurstoneor Likert was considered unsuitable.

As Thurstone, Cattell and Sherif have observed, a person ques-tioned on some intimate attitude, first appraises the question and thenthe intention prompting its being asked. As a result, they haveshown, there is a discrepancy between the opinion as expressed inthe open questionnaire and the attitude which is actually held (2, 3,4).

A projective technique giving the subject few clues as to what his31

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32 EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

responses are expected to be, would avoid this failing. Sentencecompletion, in particular, seemed suitable for this purpose. Itconsists of asking the subject to complete with the first thoughtswhich come to mind, a number of sentence beginnings called stimulusphrases or stems. By this means the responses may be drawn tospecific areas of interest although the neutral character of the stemsleaves the subject free from actual or felt pressures to conformity.

Previous research has shown that where the stem is equivalent toa direct question on intimate attitude the completions are likely to besuperficial, evasive, or even absent. Where the stem is too general itis unlikely to produce responses relevant to the chosen field ofresearch. Somewhere between these two extremes lie forms of stemspecific enough to act as clues to the field of interest and generalenough to allow the subject freedom to express what would otherwisebe covert attitude. Previous research into such subjects as, relationsbetween parents and adolescents (5), attitudes of pupils to schoollife (6), and attitudes of students to the content of university courses(7), have shown that when this balance is achieved otherwise un-obtainable data is revealed.

2. STEMS FOR TEACHER'S COMPLETIONS

1. Composition is2. Children should write only3. Choice of subjects4. Children should be expected to write in order to

5. Children should write after6. The best method of securing improvement of written

English7. The best time for writing.8. Grammar9. Text-books

10. Written expression should be judged.11. Marking12. Corrections should13. Spelling should14. Handwriting should15. Children write best about

Stems 1 and 2 were designed to obtain the teacher's generalconcept of his work in this field, the term "composition", the most

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ATTITUDES TO WRITTEN EXPRESSION 33commonly accepted term, being used despite justifiable objections.

Stem 3 and stem 15 gave an opportunity to express whether theteacher or the pupil chose the subject, or whether a general area wasindicated in which the child had some freedom to express personalinterests.

Stems 4, 5 and 6 were aimed at obtaining statements on themotivation for writing. Was the writing for a specific purpose; for awall-newspaper, a project booklet, a book review? Did it follow aspecific experience to which it was a necessary corollary? Was im-provement related to frequent personal involvement in writing andthe experience of its variety of functions?

Stem 7 gave an opportunity for the expression of the teacher'sfunction in initiating educational situations and experiences whichmight constitute incentives to writing.

Stems 8, 9, 13 and 14 were to obtain the teacher's view of therelationship between the mechanical component skills of writing,and the ends of communication and expression. How was the contentand difficulty of drills decided? Were they dictated by the shape ofgiven text-books or was room left for instruction in those weaknesseswhich were currently revealed in the written work of the class?

Stem 10 invited the considerations guiding assessment. Wasassessment of the effectiveness of expression and communication,distinct from assessment of formal correctitude? Were techniquespractised of children's aural assessment of each others' work, aimedat creating genuine situations of communication, and developmentof critical standards?

Stems 11 and 12 stimulated responses on the activities of markingand correction to ascertain whether they took a sterile or constructiveform.

3. SCORING TEACHER'S COMPLETIONS

Following a study of the literature of research and methodology,criteria were established for judgment of the teacher's completionson a five point scale.

In relation to expression these criteria were; awareness of themotivation of the child for writing; assumption that the motive ofcommunication could be educationally harnessed; recognition thataudience situations were essential in genuine communication; sup-position of a function for the child's writing; choice of topics andsituations according to their interest for the child and their power tostimulate the urge to communicate.

ERC

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34 EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

In relation to the mechanical skills contributory to writing, thesecriteria were; recognition that grammar and punctuation are learntbest not as ends in themselves but as means to expression; acceptancethat the nature and difficulty of these drills and skills was bestderived from the work of the children themselves.

In relation to marking, evaluation, and correction, these criteriawere; preference for practices obtaining active participation in assess-ment and self-correction; stress upon attainment of the goal ofcommunication and expression to which formal correctitude is ameans; recognition that heavy marking and correction may defeattheir own purpose.

The teachers' completions were assessed according to thesecriteria on the five point scale as follows:

STRONGLY AGAINST NEUTRAL FOR STRONGLYAGAINST FOR

A statistical analysis of the differences in the responses betweenjunior and secondary teachers appears below in Table I. As can beseen none of these differences are significant at the 5% level althoughsome of them tend towards such significance. This lack of confidencein the results of the teachers' completions was a disappointment tothe aim of the research which was to reveal a dichotomy of attitudebetween primary and secondary children related to a dichotomy ofmethodology of their teachers. The differences in children's attitudeswere statistically confirmed, whereas the failure to do this in theteachers' samples might be attributed to the captioning of thequestionnaire and the need to take the teachers into confidence aboutthe general purpose of the inquiry. Hence the open nature of thequestionnaire and the absence of distractive or camouflage stems mayhave tended to a diminution of differences.

If these differences were not statistically significant they were allconsistent with the hypothesis that the secondary teacher pays lessattention to the motivation of his pupils to write, tends to fix a topicor even a title rigidly, and rarely considers antecedent experienceslikely to stimulate writing.

No secondary completions of stem 11, "Marking ", con-sidered unconventional methods of assessment such as class oralmethods or self-marking according to stated principles. Similarlythe view that grammar was a subject in its own right coupled with

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ATTITUDES TO WRITTEN EXPRESSION 35

belief in its value for transfer of training was confined to the secondaryschool completions of stem 8.

The completions by primary teachers of stem 5, "Children shouldwrite after ", revealed the tendency to relate their pupils, writingto their interests and experiences, and endings to stem 13, "Spelling

", showed greater willingness on the part of junior teachers toview spelling as a means to the end of expression from which itcould be drawn and to which it could be linked.

4. SOME COMPARISONS OF COMPLETIONS

STEM I JUNIOR: a term I would prefer not to be used inComposition is connexion with written, expressive English. It has

a flavour of formality which is not desirable in freeexpression. (3 points)SECONDARY: is the written expression of a pupil'sreaction to a given subject. (1 point)

STEM 2 JUNIOR: when they feel they have a need to, orChildren should when a strong stimulus is presented. (4 points)write only SECONDARY: after careful thought. (1 point)

The first and second completions of the secondary teacher ignoremotivation and are subject-limited. The junior teacher vaguelysuggests the importance of the child's motivation in his first comple-tion and states it more explicitly in his second.

STEM 8 JUNIOR: should always be subordinate to express-Grammar ion. (5 points)

SECONDARY ( 1 ) : . . . is an essential separate subjectand should be taught assiduously. (1 point)SECONDARY (2): should be taught very carefully.In this school not all pupils learn Latin. EnglishGrammar and Geometry are the only substitutesfor logical thinking. (1 point)

ATTITUDES OF CHILDREN TO WRITTEN EXPRESSION

1. Importance to educatorsPsychologists have demonstrated that perception is related to the

attitudes of the perceiver (4), and memory, to the personal significanceof the material for the subject (18). The efficiency of learning whichinvolves both perception and memory will also clearly be influencedby the attitude of the learner to the specific learning activity involved.Hence teaching methods engendering positive attitudes are likely to

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TABLE IDIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEANS OF SECONDARY AND JUNIOR TEACHERS' COMPLETIONS

Stemi

X Score of 10Secondary Teachers i -7

X Score of 18Primary Teachers 2*1

Differences between X s -4"t" Ratio -102Approaching Significance* *

* Stem 1 Composition is . . . .

Stem Stem2 3

1-5 1-9

1-8 i-8

•3 -i•7 N.S.*

* Stem s Children should write only .. .* Stem 5 Children should write after ...* Stem 8 Grammar* Stem 9 Text-books• Stem 11 Marking* Stem 13 Spelling should..

Stem Stem4 5

1-4 2-4

i-6 3-2•2 -6

N.S. 1-02*

Stem Stem6 7

i-6 1-5

1-9 1-4

•3 -iN.S. N.S.

Stem8

2-1

3-0

•91-71

*

Stem9

i-6

2-1

•5•8S

*

Stem10

3-0

2-8

•2

N.S.

Stem11

2'O

2"5

•51*22

*

Stem Stem12 13

2-0 i-8

2-1 2-4•1 -6

N.S. I -8I*

Stem Stem14 15

2-8 2-6

3-i 2 7.3 .j

N.S. N.S.

AllStems

2"O

2-3

•3N.S.

ft0O

O

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P.

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ATTITUDES TO WRITTEN EXPRESSION 37

cause more active and frequent practice and result in more effectivelearning.

Just as pleasant words are more easily learnt than unpleasant orneutral words (8), so it must also be true that vocabulary, accuracy ofexpression, fluency and imaginative creativity are related to the,affective characteristics of the subject matter in particular, and writtenexpression in general.

The attitudes of children to written expression are therefore ofgreat interest and value to the educator, particularly if they can beshown to be related to specific teaching methods and attitudes. Theresults of this part of the research were derived from the sentencecompletions of 513 children, 256 of whom were from three primaryschools, and 267 from neighbouring grammar and modern schools.

2. Reasons for attitudes

The completions were scored on a 5 point scale ranging from ahighly positive to a highly negative attitude to written expression.Two conclusions emerged.

1. Though there were considerable variations between primaryschools, positive attitudes prevailed.

2. Though there were considerable differences between grammarand modern school pupils negative attitudes prevailed. (Thesedifferences were significant at the -oi level.)

What were the reasons for negative attitudes? In primary andsecondary samples a large proportion were the length of writing to bedone and the resultant pains in fingers, hands, arms, backs and necks.Notwithstanding their physical immaturity the primary pupils wereless conscious of fatigue than the secondary children. The comple-tions gave evidence that limitations of the effects of fatigue wererelated to such psychological factors as involvement in the subjectsabout which the children wrote.

In the primary schools the subject was likely to be a stronglypersonal topic of the child's choice.

Secondary school completions revealed the demand of a for-midable minimum of writing, and the practice in some forms of thegrammar school, of writing all essays for homework. The contrastbetween the hand-made topic booklets eagerly and sometimesartistically made by the juniors, and the impersonal setting of asubject to be written about at home by the seniors, and later criticallymarked probably not in the presence of the writer, could be ascribed

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38 EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

only partially to the necessary differences of time-table and examina-tion requirements.

Lack of interest in the subjects or titles was an important factorassociated with negative attitude, to the extent of 14% of the secon-dary, and 6% of the primary samples. Frequently lack of experienceof the subject is reported or incomprehension of the teacher's wishesin his formulation of the subject. Fear of lack of mechanical skillssuch as spelling or punctuation is another factor in negative attitude,showing a rise from the second junior year to the second secondaryyear after which it declines. The research was unable to offer anyevidence on any relationship between this anxiety, the standards ofskills, and inhibition of expression, but it became clear that stressingmechanical skills is an educational instrument which must be handleddelicately.

3. Choice of subjects

In completion of stem 16, "The best composition I have written", no less than 39% of the secondary responses, in contrast to 19%

of the primary referred to description or nature. In contrast 29%of the juniors referred to adventure, usually fantastic or imaginative,13% of the secondary modern children and 6% of the grammarchildren to adventure or conventional themes such as robbers,detectives, shipwrecks and spacemen. The differences betweentypes of school in these completions based on literature, namely, 18%of the grammar, 6% of the junior (all from one school), and 1% ofthe secondary modern, reflect syllabus differences due to require-ments of the G.C.E.

In the grammar school completions there was little record ofimaginative themes, unless related to personal motives or fantasy, norwas there mention of argumentative, discursive or persuasive writing.In all types of school autobiographical writing was popular, as wereindirect autobiographical topics such as pets and hobbies.

CONCLUSION

The research supported the view that sentence completion issuitable for ascertaining the intimate attitudes of children to theprocesses of their education. It cast some doubt on its suitability toexpress the details of teachers' attitudes to educational method.

The investigation revealed a clear deterioration in children'sattitude to written expression from the junior to the secondary schools.Whereas classroom observation and children's sentence completions

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STATISTICS OF ATTITUDE TO WRITTEN EXPRESSION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCHOOL

. Most SignificanceStem Types of School Compared Most Negahve Level of ^ . ^ Levd of

Responses Significance Responses Significance

Stem 2: Junior V Secondary Secondary -oi Junior -oiComposition Secondary Modern V Grammar — N.S. — N.S.is Junior V Grammar Grammar -oi Junior -oi

Junior V Secondary Modern — N.S. Junior -oi

Stem 14: Junior V Secondary Secondary -oi Junior -oiI like Secondary Modern V Secondary Grammar — N.S. — N.S.Composition Junior V Secondary Grammar Secondary 'Oi Junior -oibut Grammar

Junior V Secondary Modern Secondary *oi Junior o*iModern

Stem 23: Junior V Secondary Secondary •01 Junior 'Oi/ do not like Secondary Modern V Secondary Grammar — N.S. — N.S.Composition

Junior V Secondary Grammar Secondary "05 Junior -05Grammar

Junior V Secondary Modern Secondary 'oi Junior -oiModern

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40 EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

linked this with the secondary teacher's decreased concern withmotivation for writing, the teachers' completions while showing astrong tendency of this kind, produced no significant statistics.

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1. Hartog, P., An Examination of Examinations (McMill==an, London, 1935).2. Thurstone, L. L., "Comment on Attitude", Amer. Jnl. Sociol., 53 (1946).3. Catell, R. B., "Principles of design in 'projective' or misperception tests

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4. Sherif, M. and Sherif, C. W., Outline of Social Psychology (Revised edn.Harper Bros., 1956).

5. Hoeflin, R. and Kell, I., The Kell-Hoeflin Incomplete Sentences Blank:Youth Parent Relations (Monographs of Soc. for Research in ChildDev. Vol. 24 No. 3).

6. Costin, F. and Eiserer, P., "Students Attitudes towards School Life asrevealed by a Sentence Completion Test", Amer. Psychol., 4, 289.

7. Lindgren, H. C , "The Incomplete Sentences Test as a means of courseevaluations", Educ. Psychol. Msmt., 12 (1952).

8 McGeoch, J. A. and Irion, S., The Psychology of Human Learning, 2ndEdn. (Longmans Green, New York, 1951).

9. Schonell, F. J., Backwardness in the Basic Subjects (Oliver and Boyd,Edinburgh, 1942).

10. Gurrey, P., The Teaching of Written English (Longmans, London, 1954).11. Fleming, C. M., Research and the Basic Curriculum (London Univ. Press,

1946).12. Greene, H. A., and Petty, W. J., Developing Language Skills in the

Elementary School (Allyn and Bacon, 1959).13. Alexander, S., Artistic creation and cosmic creation in philosophic and

literary pieces (McMillan, London, 1939).14. La Brant, L., in The English Language Arts in the Secondary School

(N.C.T.E. Commission on English Curriculum 1956).15. Hamilton, R., "The Writing of English", Educ. Rev., VIII (1955),

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