The Effects of Imagery-Instruction on the Writing of Fourth-Grade Students: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

With a growing emphasis on writing in education today, strategies are required that may be adapted for the various needs of students. Instruction focused on imagery can help since images are the source of much of the material a child writes. This technique encourages students to think about how writers use imagery in their works and to connect imagery in the mind to actual words. This study investigates the possible effects of imagery instruction on fourth-grade children’s writing by comparing the samples of a class taught with imagery instruction and a class taught in a traditional manner. Difference was measured by comparing the use of similes and metaphors, the use of adjectives and adverbs, and the average length of the sentences. Writing samples were taken at the beginning of the school year and at the end. The author found that although there were gains in the use of similes and metaphors, there was no statistically significant difference between the two classes. There was a strong relationship between use of adverbs and adjectives and instruction type, with imagery-instruction students using significantly more than the traditional group. The relationship between sentence length and type of instruction was weak, and not as significant as the use of adverbs.