Writing Tasks and Gender: Influences on Writing Quality of Black and White Students

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Abstract
The influences of writing tasks and gender on the quality of student writing of Black and White adolescents were examined. The sample comprised eighth-grade students (N = 170,899) who participated in statewide assessments of writing in Georgia (1989, 1990, and 1991). Thirty-one writing tasks were administered during these 3 years. The tasks were classified in terms of mode of discourse (narrative, descriptive, and expository) and experiential demand (direct experience, imagined experience, and outside knowledge). A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted with two dependent variables used to assess writing quality (topic development and conventions) and four independent variables (Mode of Discourse × Experiential Demand × Gender × Race). Both writing-task characteristics had statistically significant influences on writing quality, as did student characteristics. Girls wrote compositions of higher quality than did boys. White students wrote compositions of higher quality than did Black students. Several statistically significant interactions were also identified.

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