Students' Strategies for Writing Instructions

Written Communication Apr 1992

Students' Strategies for Writing Instructions

JANET DONIN ; ROBERT J. BRACEWELL ; CARL H. FREDERIKSEN ; MIKE DILLINGER

Abstract

A“cognitive discourse analysis” was employed to analyze instructions for using a word processor written by eighth-grade students. The approach analyzes text structure in order to specify underlying semantic and conceptual knowledge structures. Our analyses revealed that the written instructions produced by the student writers were deficient in providing a reader with the information necessary for performing the task in two distinct ways. First, the group of students as a whole presented insufficient content information in their texts, particularly with respect to the subprocedures required to use the word processor. Second, the organization of students' texts did not parallel the hierarchical structure of the procedures described. These results suggest the importance of looking at writing from the point of view of the knowledge structures being expressed.

Journal: Written Communication
Published: 1992-04-01
DOI: 10.1177/0741088392009002002
Open Access: Closed
Topics: writing pedagogy discourse analysis

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

BRACEWELL (1999)

Objects of Study in Situated Literacy

Written Communication
WITTE (1992)

Context, Text, Intertext

Written Communication

Cites in this index (2)

NYSTRAND (1989)

A Social-Interactive Model of Writing

Written Communication
FLOWER et al. (1984)

Images, Plans, and Prose

Written Communication

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