Use of three writing tasks at an adolescent treatment center

Adolescent residents placed in a state youth facility for crimes, misdemeanors, and anti-social behavior were presented with three writing modes during their language arts instruction. The modes required that they write a composition based on viewing a slide arrangement (Visual Composition), on imagery generated while the teacher provided sensual impressions (Imagery Composition), and on embellishing and rearranging a list of sentence fragments (Report Writing). The mean of a composition holistically scored prior to the writing treatment was significantly lower than the means of Report, Imagery, and Visual Composition writing for 14 subjects present for all writing tasks. While no significant differences emerged among the writing modes the percent gain over baseline was highest for Visual Composition (50%), a technique in which no printed language cues were available to the writer. Perhaps for problem adolescents with low literacy skills, direct emphasis on traditional and non-traditional, nonverbal approaches to composition may increase writing proficiency.