Quality of education is one of today’s hot items. According to public opinion in the Netherlands, students’ learning is poor. Learning theory from their textbooks however is not an easy task for students. It may be that writing-to-learn, the way of learning studied in this thesis, can support students at studying their textbooks.
This thesis is directed at writing-to-learn, a specific way of learning that can be used in the classroom. Research has shown that instruction on writing can promote learning. The questions in the thesis are which types of instruction can be discriminated and which is most effective. Other questions are which is the character of the process of writing-to- learn and how instruction can stimulate it.
To find answers on the first question, a review of studies on writing-to-learn was undertaken. This resulted in four types of instruction, which allow the instructions used in 43 reviewed studies to be identified. This outcome enabled the author to determine the most effective type. It appeared to be ‘Genre Writing instruction added with planning and revising activities’. Following, Genre Writing instruction was studied by means of two quasi experiments in biology and mathematics teacher training. To enlarge the scope, Genre Writing instruction was studied in another two quasi experiments with low achieving students in biology and mathematics class. In four additional think-aloud studies the process of writing-to-learn at small numbers of participants in the quasi experiments was studied as well. Finally, the applicability of writing-to-learn in education is discussed.
