An Analysis of Classroom Teaching Practices Associated with Middle School Students’ Self-Efficacy for Writing

This study explores the strength of correlations between 109 middle school students’ levels of self-efficacy for writing and 9 of their language arts teachers’ practices in the classroom as perceived by the students. Four of those teaching practices correlated positively and significantly, but not strongly, with students’ self-efficacy for writing, and multiple regression provided a moderate improvement in predictive power. These results indicate that increasing the consistency of implementing the following practices may result in approximately a 10% or higher increase in students’ writing self-efficacy: assigning tasks of appropriate challenge, using students’ exemplary writing as models, and offering both verbal feedback on and verbal praise of students’ writing. The findings add new information to the literature on developing self-efficacy for writing and may allow middle school language arts instructors to make informed decisions about teaching practices that influence their students’ motivation for writing.