The Effects of a Self-Regulated Writing Intervention on English Learners’ Academic Writing Skills

The goals of this dissertation were (1) to help English learners (ELs) improve their persuasive writing and self-regulated learning (SRL) skills and (2) to examine the effectiveness of the self-regulated writing intervention in an authentic setting. ELs are well-represented across university and college campuses in the U. S. While most of them thrive academically and receive their undergraduate and graduate degrees, a majority of ELs experience difficulties with academic writing. Therefore, there is a need to develop and examine evidence-based practices to promote the development of academic writing skills of ELs. One promising line of research involves adding instruction in SRL to writing courses. The mixed-methods research design, combining single case quasi-experimental design and focus group interviews, was used to collect data from undergraduate ELs (n=8) while they were learning how to write persuasive essays and self-regulate their writing behaviors. Based on the What Works Clearinghouse standards for single-case designs, the results of this study revealed that the SRL writing intervention provided weak or no evidence of treatment effect on the quality of students’ persuasive writing skills, and no evidence of treatment effect on students’ SRL skills. These findings suggest that both writing and SRL skills are teachable, but may require more time and adjustments to the teaching and learning methods employed in the study