The Impact of Writing-to-Learn Activities on Students’ Academic Achievement in Social Studies Course and Relevant Student Opinions

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the possible influence of writing-to-learn activities on students’ academic performance and achievement in social studies course and to collect student opinions in this regard. This study was carried out with a total of 83 (43 in the experimental group and 40 in the control group) 5th grade students studying in a middle school affiliated to the Turkish Ministry of National Education in Erzurum in the 2021/22 academic year. A test consisting of 20 questions was administered to the control and experimental groups in order to measure academic achievement prior to carrying out the activities. The experimental group was being instructed through the use of writing-to-learn activities, while the control group, in line with the curriculum in-use. Following the activities, the control and experimental groups were both administered the post-tests. At the end of the implementation part of the study, a focus group interview was conducted with 8 randomly selected students from the classes involved in the experimental group. Quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics, and qualitative data with content analysis. The results obtained indicated a statistically significance in favour of the experimental group when the average post-test scores of the experimental group students and those of the control group students were compared. Furthermore, the rest of the data revealed that the writing-to-learn activities were favoured by the majority of the students, and regarded as having positive aspects.