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“A valuable text....The greatest strength of this book is its research base. Extensive reviews of the research in the areas that are addressed are presented along with lengthy lists of references at the end of each chapter.”

—NASP Communiqué


“Provides a very welcome addition to what is a rather sparse landscape of quality publications on what has often been described as the 'most neglected of the three R's'....Brings together the collected wisdom of an admirable array of writers and researchers from the USA to address various aspects of writing instruction and assessment. Troia's own credentials make him uniquely qualified to edit this valuable reference.”

—REACH Journal of Special Needs Education in Ireland


“This is the first book to focus on writing instruction and assessment for students with learning challenges. It is a timely and valuable resource for teachers and researchers. I look forward to using this book as a text in my undergraduate courses and graduate seminars in literacy instruction for students with special needs.”

—Linda H. Mason, PhD, Department of Educational and School Psychology and Special Education, Pennsylvania State University


“An especially practical resource, the book combines accessible summaries of research evidence on a variety of topics in writing with how-to ideas that can be implemented right away by a motivated clinician or teacher. Without giving short shrift to research, the contributors devote ample attention to the instructional needs of struggling writers and those who work with them.”

—Kenn Apel, PhD, CCC-SLP, Department of Communication Disorders, Florida State University


“This unique book combines advice on writing instruction and assessment for students with varying learning profiles—those with learning disabilities and language impairments as well as multilingual learners. Chapters present new theories and conceptual frameworks, and recent research. This is an appropriate text for advanced education courses. College and university instructors will have a wide array of chapters to choose from for their teaching.”

—Susan De La Paz, PhD, Department of Special Education, University of Maryland

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Table of Contents

Introduction, Gary A. Troia

I. Theoretical Grounding: The Nature of Writing Problems in Struggling Writers

1. Multiple Processes That Matter in Writing Instruction and Assessment, Virginia W. Berninger, Noelia P. Garcia, and Robert D. Abbott

2. Self-Efficacy and Procrastination in the Writing of Students with Learning Disabilities, Robert M. Klassen and Christine Welton

II. Contemporary Classroom Writing Instruction and Struggling Writers

3. The Effects of Writing Workshop Instruction on the Performance and Motivation of Good and Poor Writers, Gary A. Troia, Shin-ju C. Lin, Brandon W. Monroe, and Steven Cohen

4. Connecting Reading and Writing Instruction for Struggling Learners, Timothy Shanahan

5. Informational Writing across the Curriculum, Carol Sue Englert, Cynthia M. Okolo, and Troy V. Mariage

III. Teaching Composing to Struggling Writers

6. Teaching Composing to Students with Learning Disabilities: Scientifically Supported Recommendations, Steve Graham, Natalie G. Olinghouse, and Karen R. Harris

7. Written Composition Instruction and Intervention for Students with Language Impairment, Nickola W. Nelson, Froma P. Roth, and Adelia M. Van Meter

8. Teaching Written Expression to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners, Anne W. Graves and Robert Rueda

9. Using Technology to Teach Composing to Struggling Writers, Charles A. MacArthur

IV. Teaching Spelling to Struggling Writers

10. Teaching Spelling to Students with Language and Learning Disabilities, Louisa C. Moats

11. Spelling and English Language Learning, Pauline B. Low and Linda S. Siegel

V. Assessment of Writing by Struggling Writers

12. Classroom Portfolio Assessment for Writing, Maryl Gearhart

13. Assessment of Student Writing with Curriculum-Based Measurement, Betty J. Benson and Heather M. Campbell

14. Language-Based Assessment of Written Expression, Cheryl M. Scott

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About the Editor

Gary A. Troia, PhD, CCC-SLP, is Associate Professor of Special Education at Michigan State University, where he is also a Principal Investigator with the Literacy Achievement Research Center. He was a faculty member at the University of Washington in Seattle before assuming his current position at Michigan State. Prior to receiving his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 2000, he worked for 10 years in the public schools as a special educator and speech-language pathologist, and for 6 years as a university clinical supervisor. Dr. Troia is a consulting editor for several journals, including Exceptional Children, Journal of Learning Disabilities , and Learning Disability Quarterly , and is an associate editor of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools . He has written over two dozen research papers and book chapters and has given numerous presentations about his work in the areas of phonological processing, writing assessment and instruction, and teacher professional development in literacy.

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Contributors

Robert D. Abbott, PhD, College of Education, University of Washington at Seattle, Seattle, Washington

Betty J. Benson, PhD, Disability Services, University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Virginia W. Berninger, PhD, College of Education, University of Washington at Seattle, Seattle, Washington

Heather M. Campbell, PhD, Department of Education, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota

Steven Cohen, MEd, Seattle Public Schools, Seattle, Washington

Carol Sue Englert, PhD, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Noelia P. Garcia, PhD, College of Education, University of Washington at Seattle, Seattle, Washington

Maryl Gearhart, PhD, Graduate School of Education, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California

Steve Graham, EdD, Department of Special Education, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

Anne W. Graves, PhD, Department of Special Education, San Diego State University, San Diego, California

Karen R. Harris, EdD, Department of Special Education, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

Robert M. Klassen, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Shin-ju C. Lin, MEd, College of Education, University of Washington at Seattle, Seattle, Washington

Pauline B. Low, MA, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Charles A. MacArthur, PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware

Troy V. Mariage, PhD, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Louisa C. Moats, PhD, Sopris West Educational Services, Frederick, Colorado

Brandon W. Monroe, PhD, Department of Education, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut

Nickola W. Nelson, PhD, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Cynthia M. Okolo, PhD, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Natalie G. Olinghouse, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

Froma P. Roth, PhD, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Robert Rueda, PhD, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

Cheryl M. Scott, PhD, Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois

Timothy Shanahan, PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Linda S. Siegel, PhD, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Gary A. Troia, PhD, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Adelia M. Van Meter, PhD, College of Health and Human Services, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Christine Welton MEd (deceased), Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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Audience

K–12 special educators and classroom teachers, literacy specialists, and speech–language pathologists; teacher educators and graduate students; school psychologists.

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Course Use

May serve as a text in graduate-level courses on writing instruction and literacy development.