Intermediate-Grade Teachers’ Adaptations for Weaker Writers: A National Survey in Urban Schools in Chile

Abstract

Two hundred fifty-four intermediate-grade teachers (88% female) in urban public schools in Chile indicated how frequently they made writing instructional adaptations for their weakest writers, which included students with learning and other disabilities. A majority of teachers reported making the following adaptations for their weakest writers at least once a week: individual tutoring, assistance from a peer when writing, and extra instruction in grammar/spelling, planning/revising, handwriting, sentence construction, and text structure. On a monthly basis or more often, a majority of teachers reported they provided weaker writers with choice about writing assignments, the opportunity to complete an alternative writing assignment, and extra writing instruction via computer technology. How often an adaptation was applied did not differ by grade. The perceived adequacy of teacher undergraduate preparation to teach writing, their efficacy to teach writing, and the proportion of students with disability in their classes each made a unique and statistically significant contribution to predicting how frequently teachers applied adaptations for their weakest writers. The Chilean teachers in this study reportedly made adaptations for weaker writers in their class more often than teachers in studies conducted in other countries, including the United States.