An Investigation of the Importance of Domain Specific Knowledge for Writing Proficiency

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Persistent link to this item

Statistics
View Statistics

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Title

An Investigation of the Importance of Domain Specific Knowledge for Writing Proficiency

Alternative title

Published Date

2003

Publisher

University of Minnesota

Type

Report

Abstract

A current question in cognitive psychology concerns the role of domain-specific knowledge for the development of thinking skills. This study addressed a related question of whether having the content knowledge of educational psychology is a good predictor of writing competency within the domain. Seventy undergraduate and post-graduate subjects enrolled in an introductory educational psychology course were assessed for content knowledge and also produced a writing sample evaluating an article in the discipline. For the entire sample, content knowledge and writing proficiency were not significantly correlated. For a sample of ten high knowledge subjects and ten low knowledge subjects, results were inconclusive. Using the scores of one rater, the ten high subjects had significantly greater writing competency scores than the ten least knowledgeable subjects. Using the scores of the other rater, this difference did not occur. Certain factors, however, may have confounded the results, in particular, the fact that subjects were engaged in acquiring domain-specific knowledge rather than employing already established knowledge bases.

Description

Related to

Replaces

License

Series/Report Number

Technical Report Series;21

Funding information

The Grants for the Study of Writing in the Disciplines (WID Grants) program provides financial and consultative support for UMN faculty and instructors who want to learn more about how writing is conceptualized, taught, and learned (or unlearned) in the disciplines.

Isbn identifier

Doi identifier

Previously Published Citation

Other identifiers

Suggested citation

Bart, William M; Evans, Karen M. (2003). An Investigation of the Importance of Domain Specific Knowledge for Writing Proficiency. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/254587.

Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.