Self-Regulated Strategy Development and Generalization Instruction: Effects on Story Writing Among Second and Third Grade Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

The effects of a self-regulated strategy intervention with three second and third grade students identified with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in the area of story writing with an additional focus on the effects of generalization instruction to personal narrative was assessed in this study. Each participant was individually trained to use the W-W-W, What =2, HOW = 2, story writing strategy and self-regulation procedures to write stories that were longer, contained more essential elements, and were of overall better quality. They developed personal self-statements to facilitate strategy usage as well as defuse individual frustration levels with the writing process. Instruction was criterion based. A multiple baseline across participants design with multiple probes in baseline only was employed. The effects of the intervention on participants' ability to write stories were measured at baseline, post-instruction and maintenance. In a addition, a generalization measure was administered at baseline and post-instruction to assess if the effects of the intervention would transfer to an additional genre (personal narrative). Other dependent measures utilized were a self-efficacy scale and social validity information. Results indicated that participants' story writing ability improved meaningfully at post-instruction and maintenance compared to baseline. Participants wrote stories that were longer, contained more essential elements, and were of overall better quality. In addition, they generalized these effects to an additional genre, personal narrative, by writing personal narratives that were longer, contained more essential elements, and were of overall better quality at post-instruction compared to personal narratives written during baseline. Self efficacy on both factors improved with the exception of one participant. All three participants reported the strategies to be useful and valued their impact on their writing.