Sequencing Instruction in Writing Assignments to Build Purpose and Promote Student Engagement

Abstract

Purpose: To describe how a reading response unit that encourages students to generate their own questions to assigned reading using sequenced instruction can serve as a basis for literary analysis, providing students with a much needed sense of purpose for and authentic engagement with a writing assignment.

Design: Educational reform efforts have focused significant attention on engaging students in assignments, –with the implication that educators connect the purpose and relevance of assignments to the students’ backgrounds and interests. Although educators have typically attempted to forge this connection via the topic or material around which an assignment is centered, the authors argue that purpose, relevance, and engagement are achieved more readily through developing the students’ own thinking about a given topic; their own thinking rather than a given topic, thus becomes the basis for the assignment.

Findings: The authors detail the sequence of instruction they employed to implement a reading response unit in an accelerated sophomore English class, the goal of which was to help students develop a literary analysis essay. The authors discuss how the structure and sequencing of the assignment led to increasing student purpose and engagement.

Practical Implications: Detailing the steps of a reading response unit designed to prepare students for literary analysis based on their own ideas can provide insights to current writing teachers and teacher educators regarding ways in which they can design/modify their assignments to be more purposeful and therefore more engaging for those they teach.

Citation

Verlaan, S.O. and Verlaan, W. (2020), "Sequencing Instruction in Writing Assignments to Build Purpose and Promote Student Engagement", Ortlieb, E., Grote-Garcia, S., Cassidy, J. and Cheek, E.H. (Ed.) What’s Hot in Literacy: Exemplar Models of Effective Practice (Literacy Research, Practice and Evaluation, Vol. 11), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 111-130. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2048-045820200000011010