Project

The KommSchreib-project is a BMBF-funded project planned to take place over three years.

Writing is a key 21st century skill that enables participation in society and is considered a conditio sine qua non for career advancement and professional development (Aschliman, 2016; National Commission on Writing, 2002; Busse, 2022). Writing is central to academic success in general (Graham & Perin, 2007a, 2007b) and impactful to a successful transition to the variety of possible secondary schools in Germany (Cutler & Graham, 2008).

Fostering an intrinsic motivation to write (i.e., enjoyment of writing or personally relevant expectations of benefits) is significant in order for children to use writing processes on their own and to persist in the face of difficulties (Pajares, 2003). The end of the elementary school years can be considered a sensitive period in which attitudes toward writing deteriorate (Ekholm et al., 2018) and writing enjoyment and writing-related self-efficacy decrease for many children (Knudson, 1991, 1992; Pajares et al., 2007).

In addition to promoting achievement and motivation, encouraging social participation of all children is an important goal of inclusive education (e.g., Grosche, 2015). Social participation includes peer interaction, peer friendship, self-perception, and peer acceptance (Koster et al., 2009). Unsuccessful social participation is associated with low school enjoyment, low participation in class, a lack of interest in learning content, and overall poor school performance (cf. Schürer, 2019, 2020).

In summary, writing competence (especially related to text production), writing motivation, and social participation represent three key characteristics that promote educational success and general societal participation. Failure to pay adequate attention to these three key characteristics in the classroom can have negative consequences for learners, especially those who generally struggle with writing and even multilingual students. Early promotion and initiation of relevant competencies as well as integration into the class community, and thus social participation, should be encouraged in elementary school.

To promote writing competence, writing motivation, and social participation, our project team will carry out a classroom intervention and lead an afterschool writing program at ten elementary schools with approximately 1,000 third and fourth graders with a waitlist control group design. Psychometric questionnaires, test data, and sociometric data will be collected longitudinally at multiple time points to examine effectiveness. This data will be supplemented by interviews with teachers. Data will be evaluated quantitatively (multilevel models) and qualitatively (qualitative content analysis). Based on formative and summative evaluation results, adaptations of the intervention and implementation will be made to optimize impact in a second intervention cycle. The final findings will be shared via research platforms and the final intervention will be made available to schools through a variety of means.