The Effect of Graphic Organizers on the Writing of Students in a Second Grade Classroom

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effect of the use of graphic organizers on the complexity of second grade students' writing. Twenty-two second grade students between the ages of seven and eight from a rural western New York school district participated in this study. The study involved having each student compose two separate writing samples that were then analyzed to determine their grade level complexity. A counterbalance design was used. On the first writing sample twelve randomly selected students wrote stories using a graphic organizer while eleven did not. On the second writing sample the student groups were switched. The original twelve randomly selected students now wrote stories without a graphic organizer while the other ten students wrote stories using a graphic organizer. The writing samples were then analyzed to determine a Bormuth Grade Level. A t test was used to analyze the data. Results from the t test indicated that there was no statistically significant mean score difference between the writings created with graphic organizers and the writings created without the use of graphic organizers.