Attitudes towards writing of Portuguese adolescents

Abstract

Reading and writing play key roles in contemporary societies, therefore learning these skills are two of the most important goals in compulsory education. Mastering writing is a valuable asset; however many students fail to develop strong writing skills (Graham, 2008). Furthermore, writing is frequently conceived as a rigid and demotivating task, especially after elementary school (Boscolo & Hidi, 2007). This article focuses on attitudes towards writing of Portuguese students from grade 5 to 8. Specifically, we aim to: (1) analyse gender-based differences in attitudes towards writing; (2) explore grade-level differences in these attitudes; and (3) examine the unique influence of writing attitudes on text quality. In this study, a sample of 553 students completed a set of writing-related tasks: questionnaires about attitudes and writing habits, transcription skills tasks, and narrative and argumentative writing. Results showed that girls reported more positive attitudes towards writing than boys in all grade-levels. Fifth graders also showed more positive attitudes than students in grades 6, 7, and 8. Lastly, attitudes towards writing made a significant and independent contribution to the quality of narrative and argumentative texts. These results are relevant to the teaching of writing in Basic Education.