Writing Motives and Writing Achievement of Elementary School Students From Diverse Language Backgrounds

This study examined the intrinsic, extrinsic, and self-regulatory motives for writing and writing achievement of three groups of third- to fifth-grade students in an urban school district: (a) 189 emergent bilingual students receiving services for English language development (ELD); (b) 374 reclassified bilingual students who had exited ELD programs; and (c) 563 native English-speaking students. Intrinsic and self-regulatory writing motives were significantly higher for emergent bilingual students and reclassified bilingual students than their native English-speaking peers. Extrinsic writing motives were significantly higher for reclassified bilingual students than both emergent bilingual and native English-speaking students. Native English-speaking students scored significantly higher on a district standardized writing achievement test than both reclassified and emergent bilingual students, with reclassified bilingual students scoring significantly higher than emergent bilingual students. Finally, after controlling for variance related to student language status (e.g., emergent bilingual), gender, and grade, motives for writing predicted a small but statistically detectable amount of variance in writing achievement. Implications for practice and research are provided.Educational Impact and Implications StatementThis study found that third- to fifth-grade emergent bilingual students placed greater emphasis on intrinsic and self-regulatory motives for writing than their native English-speaking peers. Emergent bilingual students who had scored at the proficient level on a standardized measure of English and no longer received school services to develop their English skills also placed greater emphasis on extrinsic motives for writing than native English speakers and emergent bilingual students still receiving school services. Even so, students' motives for writing were not a good predictor of their writing capabilities.