Abstract
Increasing attention has been paid in recent years to the ways writing may engage adolescents in higher levels of epistemic complexity (i.e., postulating causes, reasons and other relations or theories related to scientific phenomena), yet in secondary science classrooms, writing has primarily been used for assessing students' content knowledge. Embedded in a larger national study of secondary writing in the United States, this study investigated the qualities of science writing samples collected from 33 adolescents attending schools identified for exemplary writing performance. We asked: How is epistemic complexity reflected in adolescents' writing?; How does the level of epistemic complexity differ by adolescents' language background, grade level, and school context?; What is the nature of the relationship of types of writing and higher or lower levels of epistemic complexity? We found the majority of writing adolescents produced did not show evidence of high levels of epistemic complexity. Notable exceptions were reading reflections and lab reports. Implications for adolescent science writing instruction are discussed in light of higher standards for disciplinary writing in secondary schools.
- Journal
- Journal of Writing Research
- Published
- 2015-05-01
- DOI
- 10.17239/jowr-2015.07.01.02
- CompPile
- Search in CompPile ↗
- Open Access
- OA PDF Diamond
- Topics
- Export
- BibTeX RIS
Citation Context
Cited by in this index (0)
No articles in this index cite this work.
Cites in this index (0)
No references match articles in this index.
Related Articles
-
Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy Aug 2025Karen Lunsford; Kara Mae Brown; Rebecca Chenoweth; John Schrank; Kenneth Smith; Stansell; Kali Yamboliev
-
Written Communication Jul 2025Women Scientists’ Digitally Mediated Activity, Genres and Digital Tools: A Cross-sectional Survey Across the Disciplines ↗Carmen Pérez-Llantada; Oana Maria Carciu; Rosana Villares
-
Technical Communication Quarterly Jan 2025A Black Fetus? Examining Social Justice in Medical Illustrations in Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) Pedagogical Materials ↗G. Edzordzi Agbozo; Isidore K. Dorpenyo; Godwin Y. Agboka
-
Written Communication Oct 2024Huiyu Wang; Ying Wei; Mingxin Yao
-
Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2024Calvin Pollak; Sanvi Bhardwaj