Abstract
The use of computer-based
concept mapping as a prewriting strategy for eighth-grade language art
students was compared to paper-and-pencil concept mapping. Computer-based
concept mapping was shown to enhance idea generation and the total quality
of the students’ prewriting concept maps in preparation for a
persuasive writing task. Contrary to expectation, the students who generated
paper-and-pencil concept maps scored better in persuasive writing according
to the criteria contained in the state-authorized writing rubric than
the students who generated computer-based concept maps.
Persuasive writing is important
for students because it empowers them in their professional, ethical,
and political discourse, which is central to a free society (McCann,
1989). National assessments consistently indicate the majority of students
across grades 4 thorough 12 are unable to produce an adequate persuasive
essay and that they have more difficulty with persuasive writing tasks
than with other kinds of writing (Applebee, Mullis, Latham, & Gentile,
1994). Persuasive writing is challenging for middle school students
because it demands higher-level thinking skills and is more difficult
to organize into a coherent argument (Brukhalter, 1995; Freedman &
Pringle, 1984; Nippold, 2000).
Prewriting has been shown
to facilitate the writing process for all types of writing (Brodney,
Revves, & Kazelskis, 1999; First & MacMillan, 1995; Hart, 1997).
It is considered an important part of the writing process as it plays
a vital role in the construction of writing and supports writers in
setting goals, brainstorming, organizing ideas, and deciding text structure
(Brodney et al., 1999; First & MacMillan, 1995; Flower & Hayes,
1981). Good writers recognize the importance of the prewriting, view
it as rehearsal, and spend a longer time in planning during prewriting
(Brodney et al., 1999; Hillocks, 1986). A lack of planning may result
in poor writing performance (Bourdin & Fayol, 2000).
Text organization patterns
play an important role in writing (Sinatra, 2000; Wong, 1997). Concept
mapping, or the creation of idealized graphic representations of text
structure, can be used as a prewriting strategy for writing in the language
arts classroom (Avery, Baker, & Gross, 1996; Novak & Gowin,
1984; Guastello, Beasley, & Sinatra, 2000; Sinatra, 2000). As a
prewriting activity, concept mapping encourages students to "map
out" their ideas prior to composing, and it allows students to
translate ideas and concepts into a visual, graphical representation
for writing assignments (Avery et al., 1996; Sinatra, 2000). In addition,
concept mapping can be used to activate prior knowledge and to scaffold
cognitive processing by assisting students to see relations among words,
ideas, and categories (Sturm & Rankin-Erickson, 2002). Due to its
fluency and organizing nature, it has been suggested that concept mapping
is a natural tool for prewriting activities (Margerum-Leys, 1999).
The actual process of making
a map, however, is the greatest difficulty in integrating concept mapping
into the language arts classroom as a prewriting strategy (Anderson-Inman
& Zeitz, 1993). The process of constructing a concept map is time-consuming,
tedious, and sometimes frustrating for students (Schau, Mattern, Zeilik,
Teague, & Weber, 2001). Learning to map effectively requires training
and experience. When using paper-and-pencil maps it can also be difficult
to make revisions due to the complexity of constructing a concept map.
It can be inconvenient for teachers to provide appropriate feedback
to students during mapping and concept maps are frequently viewed by
teachers as inefficient for evaluation (Chang, Sung, & Chen, 2001)
because paper-and-pencil maps are often perceived as untidy or disordered.
Recently, there has been
increasing recognition that computers can be used to facilitate the
concept mapping process (Anderson-Inman & Zeitz, 1993; Anderson-Inman
& Ditson, 1999). The increasing availability of computer technologies
in schools means middle school language arts teachers now have the potential
to integrate computer technologies into their prewriting instruction.
Computer-based concept mapping may be a practical way to integrate concept
mapping as a prewriting strategy into the middle school language arts
classroom. First, it helps students generate ideas for writing tasks
(Anderson-Inman & Horney, 1996; Ditson, Kessler, Anderson-Inman,
& Mafit, 2001; Plotnick, 2001). Second, it helps students organize
and reorganize their ideas about the topic before receiving further
writing instruction (Anderson-Inman & Ditson, 1999). Moreover, electronic
concept maps are easy to construct and revise. This approach also allows
students (and instructors) to customize maps in ways that are not possible
using paper-and-pencil. For instance, errors in describing an idea can
be corrected and modified easily and quickly (Anderson-Inman, Ditson,
& Ditson, 1998; Anderson-Inman & Zeitz, 1994). In addition,
this approach allows the generation of ideas to be recorded rapidly
in a highly legible format (Anderson-Inman et al., 1998; Ditson, et
al., 2001). Hence, computer-based concept mapping has the potential
to overcome most of the disadvantages of paper-and-pencil concept mapping.
In addition, computer-based
concept mapping may be particularly useful for persuasive writing tasks.
First, computer-based concept mapping not only engages students in analyzing
the text organization patterns about persuasive writing, but also engages
them in critical thinking about the topic they are writing (Dabbagh,
2001; Jonassen, 1996; Jonassen, Carr, & Yueh, 1998). Second, it
helps students visually organize their ideas and investigate relationships
of the ideas during the prewriting phase (Blair, Ormsbee, & Brandes,
2002). It also encourages students to revise or change conceptual relationships
in maps and makes easy the arrangement of ideas into a persuasive format
(Anderson-Inman & Zeitz, 1993; Ditson et al., 2001)
Although concept mapping
has been investigated as a prewriting strategy, research in this area
has been limited (Sturn & Rankin-Erickson, 2002, Zipprich, 1995).
In addition, these studies have only focused on students with special
needs. Furthermore, Sturm and Rankin-Erickson’s (2002) study is
the only one investigating the effects of computer-based concept mapping
on writing. In their study, Sturm and Rankin-Erickson found that concept
mapping strategies improved the writing of students qualified for special
education when using either computer-generated or hand-drawn concept
mapping as a prewriting strategy. To date, however, the use of computer-based
concept mapping as a prewriting strategy for regular middle school students
in language arts classrooms has not been investigated. In addition,
although concept mapping has been investigated as a prewriting strategy
for both expository and narrative writing (Sturm & Rankin-Erickson,
2002, Zipprick, 1995), it has not been investigated as a tool for improving
persuasive writing. Hence, research is needed to explore further the
effects of concept mapping, particularly in a computer-based format,
as a prewriting strategy for broader student populations and for its
effects on different writing genres.
The major purpose of the
present investigation was to examine the effects of computer-based concept
mapping as a prewriting strategy for middle school students’ persuasive
writing in the language arts classroom. In addition, this study sought
to examine whether there is a significant difference among students’
concept maps between computer-based and paper-and-pencil concept mapping
conditions.
