What is the research evidence on writing? - Department for Education

that use of some ‘technology-influenced’ features appeared on <strong>the</strong>ir writing for
school. For example, 50 per cent of teenagers said that <strong>the</strong>y sometimes use informal
writing styles instead of proper capitalization and punctuation in <strong>the</strong>ir school
assignments, and 38 per cent have used text shortcuts such as ‘lol’ (‘laugh out loud’)
(Pew Internet, 2008).
6.2 Enjoyment of writing
Findings from <strong>the</strong> National Literacy Trust (NLT) studies suggest that overall a large
proportion of pupils of all ages enjoy writing. The 2009 study suggests that 45 per
cent of pupils enjoy writing (Clark & Dugdale, 2009), while <strong>the</strong> 2011 study gives a
slightly higher figure of around 47 per cent of pupils enjoying writing very much or
quite a lot, with 14 per cent not enjoying it at all. The same study found that in 2011
50 per cent of pupils enjoyed reading (Clark, 2012).
The <strong>evidence</strong> also points out to a difference in enjoyment levels between writing for
family/friends (70 per cent of pupils) and writing for schoolwork (53 per cent of
pupils). Blog owners were significantly more likely to enjoy writing for family/friends
compared to non-blog owners. There was no relationship between mobile phone
ownership and enjoyment of writing. Pupils who were using a social networking site
were more likely to say that <strong>the</strong>y enjoy writing more for family/friends compared
with those who didn’t use a social networking site; however th<strong>is</strong> difference was not
stat<strong>is</strong>tically significant (Clark & Dugdale, 2009).
There are differences among groups of pupils (Clark, 2012):
o There <strong>is</strong> cons<strong>is</strong>tent <strong>evidence</strong> that girls enjoy writing more than boys.
o Younger pupils, at Key Stage 2, enjoyed writing more than older pupils (at
Key Stages 3 and 4).
o Pupils from <strong>the</strong> White ethnic group enjoyed writing less than pupils from
Mixed, Asian and Black ethnic 9 groups. For example, 46 per cent of White
pupils enjoyed writing very much or quite a lot, compared to 55 per cent of
pupils from <strong>the</strong> Mixed ethnic group, 57 per cent of <strong>the</strong> Asian group and 59
per cent of <strong>the</strong> Black group.
o However, <strong>the</strong>re were no big differences between pupils eligible for FSM and
pupils not eligible for FSM.
As with reading, <strong>the</strong> <strong>evidence</strong> suggests that enjoyment of writing <strong>is</strong> related to
attainment: for example, 49 per cent of pupils performing above <strong>the</strong> expected level
for <strong>the</strong>ir age and 46 per cent of pupils who perform at <strong>the</strong> expected level for <strong>the</strong>ir
age enjoyed writing very much, compared to just 5 per cent of pupils who performed
below <strong>the</strong> expected level of attainment for <strong>the</strong>ir age. It was not possible to provide
separate figures for primary and secondary school pupils (Clark, 2012).
Confidence in writing ability
Overall, <strong>the</strong> <strong>evidence</strong> suggests that <strong>the</strong>re <strong>is</strong> a split between pupils’ confidence in
<strong>the</strong>ir own writing abilities. Data from <strong>the</strong> NLT studies suggest that about half of
9 As <strong>the</strong> authors note, <strong>the</strong> grouping of ethnic groups into three main categories
(Mixed, Asian and Black) may mask differences between ethnic groups
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