Running head: CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND WRITING MOTIVATION 1

Classroom Environment’s Effect On Middle School Student’s Writing Motivation

An Observational Study of Classroom Environment

Teresa A. Cincotta

Franciscan University of Steubenville

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Classroom Environment’s Effect On Middle School Student’s Writing Motivation

An Observational Study of Classroom Environment

When I was in school, I loved to write. I was very fortunate to have been homeschooled

by a mother who loved writing and shared that passion of writing with me. However, by

working in middle school classrooms, I have realized that a love for writing is not always the

case. I have noticed that students are often turned off from writing because they do not find it

interesting. Their motivation is not there at all. I have seen that the lack of motivation in middle

school classrooms is connected to the classroom environment and how it looks and feels.

Students who do not feel comfortable and listened to or do not have positive relationships with

peers and their teacher, are less likely to be motivated to write. Writing is hard for middle school

students, because they have to write their opinions on paper. Kirby, Kirby, and Liner state:

“Students are most vulnerable when they submit a piece of genuine writing” (Kirby, Crovitz, &

Kirby, p. 27). I believe this statement is true and this is why it is important that teachers create

an environment where all students feel comfortable.

The reason I wanted to conduct this research was to see if my hypothesis on writing

motivation was accurate. Since I never went to a real school with a real classroom, I do not

know if these thoughts are true. However, I know that, just by being a person, if I do not feel

comfortable around people or if I do not feel welcomed or invited somewhere, I am turned off

and I do not want to suggest any of my ideas. Davis and Forbes suggest in their article that a

classroom of mutual respect is the most effective way to make students feel comfortable in their

classroom (Davis and Forbes). With this information in mind I decided to see how students are

affected by their classrooms. So, I tested my hypothesis to see if I could receive results from
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students that support my ideas. This research is important for my field because I want to teach

middle school Language Arts. I feel very strongly about building relationships within my

classroom and sharing my love for writing with my future students. I want my students to be

excited to write, and not feel as if it is a chore or as if their writing will just be tossed aside.

Kirby, Kirby, and Liner suggest in their book that “a good writing class must feel like a safe

place” (Kirby, Crovitz, & Kirby, 2013, p. 26). So, I wanted to see how much students really are

affected by their classroom environment.

Purpose

Many middle school teachers have trouble trying to motivate their students to write. It

seems as if, in most cases, students do not find motivation to write in a classroom where they do

not feel safe. If middle school teachers work to create a classroom where all students feel

welcomed and heard, then their motivation will hopefully be heightened. The question I will be

answering through my research is: What are the effects of creating a safe classroom environment

on the writing motivation of middle school students? I want to discover how students are

affected by their relationships with their peers and the environment of then classrooms. I also

want to find when students feel the most motivated to write.

I hope to find evidence that classrooms, with an environment where students feel as

though what they say matters, will have a positive effect on their writing motivation. I hope to

find evidence that students’ writing motivation will increase when they are comfortable. The

methodology I will be using to answer this question is a survey for students in eighth grade ELA

classrooms. I will be considering how how important teacher influence is on the students writing
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achievement and motivation, if students’ relationships with their peers affects their writing, and

if students feel comfortable and listened to in their classroom.

I believe that my research will demonstrate that classes with an environment where

students feel valued, welcomed, and comfortable have a positive effect on student motivation. I

also think that my research will show that positive peer relationships and positive relationships

between students and teachers help students become more motivated to write. Last, I believe that

my research will give more strategies for helping students to become motivated to write in their

classroom. I also think that my research will suggest that a writing center is a very helpful tool

for middle schoolers’ writing processes.

Review of Literature

Motivating students to do their schoolwork can be hard work: motivating middle school

students to do their work can be even harder, especially when it comes to writing. Davis and

Forbes (2016) discuss how to effectively motivate middle school students in the classroom in

their 2016 article. The researchers discuss scenarios from their real life experiences in the middle

school class environment by explaining methods that work to tap into students’ motivation. The

participants of the scenarios are middle school students that the researchers themselves have

taught. The purpose of Davis and Forbes’ article is to show that having a classroom environment

with mutual respect is the most effective way to make students feel comfortable in their

classroom. If students are comfortable, then they will want to share and write. One method they

explain in the article is silence. “Rather than calling on the very first hand up, we sit and let

silence settle in for a few minutes...This is a different kind of quiet than when students fidget in

confusion...This kind of quiet encourages us all to reflect for a moment and become comfortable
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with thinking” (p. 15). Through allowing time for the students to be quiet and reflect, Davis and

Forbes show that their students become more comfortable writing and sharing because they are

comfortable with themselves and their thoughts. Through the results of their research they

concluded that a good classroom environment should practice mutual respect through listening.

If students listen to teachers; and teachers listen to students; and students listen to their peers;

then students will feel as if what they have to say really matters. “our classes might be more

motivational if we focused less on telling and more on listening...There is no greater gift we can

give to our students than our full, undivided attention.” (p. 18)

Davis and Forbes created a great article. It is really easy to read and comprehend. It was

engaging and meaningful because it dealt with real life experiences in the classroom and gave

practical advice for how these methods could be used in the classroom. The scenarios were easy

to understand and engaging to read. However, the authors did not write this to be a research

article so there is not any research data in it. It was nice to read stories of how the classrooms

changed, but it was disappointing to not see any data to show what had changed. The authors do

show, in the scenarios that are explained, results of how the methodology helped motivate their

students to start writing and sharing in the classroom. For example, they describe the change in

Sara: “After several responses, Sara suddenly sits up taller in her seat and cracks a brief smile”

(p. 15). The article relates to my study because I want to research how classroom environment

can change a student’s motivation; whether that is physical environment, or a more personal

environment. This article definitely shows that listening to students and making the classroom a

place where they will be heard can tap into their motivation. I think to further the study of this

article, the authors can describe more scenarios and give more examples of activities to use in the
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classroom, specifically focusing on ones that encourage listening to students and peers to tap

their motivation.

Allowing students to have a voice, and demonstrating listening skills, is very important

for middle school classrooms. If teachers want their students to share, they will have to give

them time to think and respond. Ornelles and Black (2012) describe the process of creating an

Invitational Learning environment to improve the writing competence of middle school students

in two special education classes. The methodology that is shown in the article is focused around

the importance of dialogue within a classroom and how it is essential for the success of students

with special needs. The purpose was to try and enhance writing skills with the students. There

are four elements that were used in their methodology to try and enhance this skill: “We used the

four basic elements of invitational teaching – trust, respect, optimism, and intentionality as a

framework” (p. 27). The participants included one teacher and 16 male and female students with

mild/moderate disabilities from two special education classrooms in grades seventh and eighth.

The authors observed the two classrooms by using four levels of invitation. Two were positive

invitations and two were negative invitations. The levels are: intentional inviting and uninviting,

and unintentional inviting and uninviting. They tallied every time the teacher posed a question

within the two minute intervals. The results were noticeable changes between the baseline and

intervention phases of the study. At the baseline there were not many opportunities for students

to contribute to discussions. However, at the intervention phase, unintentionally disinviting

statements dropped. At the same time, intentionally inviting dialogue increased. It was shown

that the teacher would continually redirect students if they got off task or were confused. This

helped to raise the levels of intentional inviting dialogue.

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This article was a real case study that followed a structure and had all the important

components, but was not completely organized. However, the authors went into detail about

everything they had by defining terms and explaining concepts which was helpful for

understanding the study. The authors included plenty of research that showed tangible results

from what was tested. I liked that it included images of the results and the tools used to track the

data they were observing. Each image was labeled and clearly showed what it was displaying. I

will say that although it was organized, it was difficult to read the charts. There was a lot of

information, so I often got lost in the research and had to read things over a few times. I think

that if it had an appendix to store all the data results in that would have made it a little more

organized. Although I am not writing specifically on special need students, I do think that the

authors have great ideas because it is effective to give students time to respond within a lesson.

It becomes more meaningful to them when they can respond and when the teacher asks for their

opinions. The authors really articulate that point. I think that for further research this could be

tested with different teachers in different schools and maybe even in classes that are not special

education because the suggestions for creating a classroom environment of value is important for

all students.

The classroom environment a teacher creates plays a big role in the motivation and

achievement of students within that classroom. Zhang, Hur, Diamond, and Powell (2015)

conducted a study to determine the effect of environment on students. The researchers examined

the classroom writing environment in thirty-one Head Start classrooms. The participants within

the thirty-one classrooms included two-hundred and sixty-two children (one-hundred and

thirty-six boys and one-hundred and twenty-six girls) from both urban and rural areas of a United
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States Midwestern state. The purpose of this study was for the researchers to explore the

relations between the writing environment, children’s name-writing, and children’s letter

knowledge using a method that observed student’s writing abilities (p. 307). This method was

called a pathway analysis. The authors wrote, “A pathway model was used to test whether the

classroom writing environment influenced children’s growth of letter knowledge through

children’s growth of early writing skills” (p. 311). The researchers’ methodology examined how

available writing tools were to the students and how often the students utilized them within their

writing. They observed the students throughout different times in the day to see how often the

tools were used to help the students with writing. The researchers’ concluded that most of the

teachers in the Head Start classrooms only offered basic writing materials such as pencils and

paper rather than more advanced materials that could spark students’ writing skills. However, the

classrooms that did include more advanced materials, such as word cards to help students form

letters and words, did show positive results on the students’ writing skills. The last point the

authors concluded is that there needs to be more research to explore how teachers input into the

students writing would even more effect the students writing results.

I found the author’s methodology to be confusing. The pathway analysis is not something

I am familiar with and the authors did not explain it in detail for clarification. However, I did

enjoy the research the authors conducted, and I did find it useful to my research. I think that the

article was well written and well organized. I like how there was a “key words” chart included

in the beginning of the article. I also liked that there was a chart that showed the results of the

study. However, this chart was based off of the pathway analysis so I did not understand how to

read the chart, and there was no key to explain the chart. This article relates to my study because
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it shows that in order for students to be motivated and able to write in the classroom, students

need to be provided with the appropriate tools and materials. Students might not be so motivated

if they are just given a pen and paper. However, if a teacher provides students with graphic

organizers, a list of academic language, and some colored pens, this may spark the students’

motivation to start writing. The researchers in this article showed that motivation to write comes

from showing students more ways than one to write. One suggestion for further research would

be to explain what a pathway analysis is and maybe include a key to show how to read the chart.

Another suggestion would be to do more research on how the teacher and the relationship

between the student and teacher affects students progressive writing. Students need to feel

comfortable to share with the class.

One way for students to feel comfortable is having a safe environment. Jones, Jones, and

Vermette (2013) describe eight ways to maintain a safe environment in the classroom. The

purpose of their article was to show how creating an environment that is safe for all students

requires understanding specific “complexities” in the classroom. In order to see this, the authors

go through eight steps which include: “student-teacher relationships, high expectations for

students, non-verbal cues and redirection, teacher consistency, teacher perseverance and

assertiveness, capitalizing on human resources, restorative justice, and school wide consistency

for student behavior” (p. 21). The participants of their study were students in a secondary

mathematics classroom. The researchers go through a made-up scenario that relates to real life

situations to show how these complexities would play out. The authors explain in each scenario

how each of the eight points relate to managing a safe environment where each student feels

comfortable. The authors concluded that all eight key points are essential for “creating a
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classroom and school climate” (p.30). However, there is not one way to have a perfectly

manageable classroom. The most important point they make is that the key concepts could and

should be adapted to fit different classrooms: “These keys must be modified, adapted and

reworked to each individual teaching situation and each behavioral infraction” (p. 30). Yet, even

though they may not work for every classroom, or they may need to be modified, these points

provide a basis for suggestions on how to improve classroom management.

The article was extremely organized. It was easy to know what was going on from the

abstract, the labels of each sections, and the conclusion at the end. It was very focused; which

made the article easy to understand and follow. . I like how the authors first explained what each

key point means and then showed how it should look in a situation in the classroom. I also liked

the graphic organizer at the end that showed all the research readily available to look at as well

as the corresponding references. Although I liked how focused the article was, I do think the

authors were a bit too specific. They said that these points may need to be adapted for other

classrooms, however they did not necessarily show how the points could be adapted. Instead,

they just gave specific scenarios for how the key points worked in the classroom. This is not a

bad thing, I just think they should have given some strategies for how the key points could be

adapted. This article relates to my topic of study because the authors discuss how personal

relationships with the students can help motivate the students more effectively. I do not think I

would use all the key concepts they described, but I know that I could use some of them for my

research especially “Student- teacher relationships” (p. 32). I think to improve the article they

could have real life scenarios in addition to the ones they made for this research. The authors do
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not show any concrete information for how it worked and improved student learning. If they

showed the progress of the students, the research would be more effective.

Methodology

Participants

The participates for my study included male and female eighth grade students from three

different classrooms of a midwest junior high school. These classes included forty-six students in

total. These students were selected using convenience sampling and the sample is not a

representative of the population. However, I do believe that their responses to my survey give an

accurate representation of how middle school students are affected by the classroom’s

environment. I selected this sample mainly because I did not have any connections of my own.

Through the help of my professors, I was able to contact the principal of the participants’ school

and asked for permission to survey the eighth grade students. I specifically wanted to test my

research on middle school students which I why I chose eighth grade. Originally I had asked

permission to conduct my research on all of the ELA junior high classes, but that was over one

hundred students and I did not need that much feedback. This is why I decided on just surveying

the eighth grade students; because with the amount of time I had I could only survey a small

sample.

Survey

I conducted my research by creating my own survey focusing on how the classroom

environment, both physically and relationally, affects the writing motivation of these

participants. I then gave the survey to the principal of the school who distributed the survey to

the three eighth grade ELA classes. Each student completed the survey by answering the
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questions specific to their experiences in their classroom. After the surveys were completed, I

picked them up from the school and logged the information. I counted the number of times each

answer was given for each question from all forty-six participants. Then took the percentage of

each of the numbers out of forty-six. Once I had all my information, I create graphs to show

which answers were chosen the most.

Findings

I took the information for all of three of the classrooms and compiled them together to get

results for the whole grade. I asked the students 6 questions and the results of each questions is

described through the following five charts. There is not chart for the sixth questions because the

question was “does your classroom have a writing center” and all three of the classes replied

with the answer of no. Let me explain the charts. When asked if the environment of the

classroom affected their writing, 33% of students or 15 students answered yes, 24% of students

or 11 students answered no, and 43% or 20 students answered sometimes. The second question

asked students if they are more motivated to write when they feel comfortable in their classroom.

76% of students or 35 students answered yes, 5% of students or 2 students answered no, and

19% of students or 9 students answered sometimes. The third question asked students if they felt

listened to by their peers and teacher in the classroom. Of the 46 students, 26 of them or 57% of

students answered yes, none of the students answered no, and 20, or 43% of students answered

sometimes. The fourth question asked if peer relationships had a positive effect on the students’

writing motivation. 18 students, or 40% of students answered yes, 9 students or 19% answered

no, and 19 or 41% answered maybe. The fifth question asked if the students’ relationship with

their teacher affects their writing motivation. Of the 46 students, 21 students or 46% answered
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yes, 10 students or 21% said no, and 15 students or 33% said maybe. The research question I

sought to answer was the effect of a safe environment on middle schools writing achievement.

This question may not have been answered by my survey, however, these surveys did suggest

that students are affected by the environment both physically and relationally in the classroom.

Their relationships with peers and the teacher does seem to affect most student’s writing

motivation in most cases. It is important to keep this information in mind when one is teaching

middle school students. The students do care about how they are treated and it will not always,

but sometimes, have an effect on their writing motivation. Students want to be comfortable.

Of all my findings, the results that struck me the most, and helped me with answering

my research question to a degree, was question number two. 35 out of 46 students said that they

are more motivated to write when they feel comfortable in the classroom. That is huge.

Especially because only 2 said their writing is not affected by how comfortable they feel in the

classroom. These middle school students show, that for their classes, a comfortable environment

for the most part does play a part in their writing motivation.
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(The numbers on the side represent how many students gave each answer for each question. The

Yes, No, Maybe, and Sometimes, were the answers the students could choose for each question.)
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Recommendations

With these results, the next steps that need to be taken are informing other teachers that

students are affected by the classroom environment and that, especially during middle school,

students need an environment where they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, opinions, and

Ideas. Unfortunately, I was only allowed to survey one school, so I cannot state that this is true

for all students in every school. But I can suggest that if these middle school students feel

strongly about their classroom environment affecting their writing motivation, I would assume

that other students feel similarly. But I cannot conclude that. One big limitation of my research

is that my sample was so small compared to the amount of middle school students in education

today. Another limitation is that I was not about to take any before or after writing samples or

test the difference between the classroom environment before and after students became

comfortable in the classroom. This is because I only had so much time to work on this and it

was the middle of the academic year. To improve my findings, I would suggest that a future

researcher interview teachers to see how they have noticed their students’ writing motivation and

writing achievement change since she first had them in her classroom. I would suggest that

researchers should survey a larger sample and do a survey maybe in the beginning and end of the

academic year. This could show more change within the students writing achievement than just

a small survey in the middle of the year. I especially think that it would be important for further

researchers to seke samples of students writing after a period of time as the teacher makes the

classroom environment more comfortable. Or, if researchers surveyed schools with different

environments to see the different effects of different students.

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References

Davis, A., & Forbes, L. (2016). Doing the impossible: Motivating middle school students.

Voices from the Middle. 2​ 3(4). 14-18.

Gulley, B. (2012). Feedback on developmental writing students’ first drafts. ​Journal of

Developmental Education,​ 36(10). 16-21.

Jones, K. A., Jones, J. L., & Vermette, P. J. (2013). Exploring the complexity of classroom

management: 8 Components of managing a highly productive, safe, and respectful urban

environment.​ American Secondary Education. 4​ 1(3). 21-33.

Kirby, D. L., Crovitz, D., & Kirby, D. (2013). ​Inside out: Strategies for teaching writing

(3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Ornelles, C., & Black, R. S. (2012). Using invitational learning to address writing competence

for middle school students with disabilities. ​Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice.

18. 26-36.

Saidy, C., & Early, S.J. (2016). You need more organization bro: Relationship building in

secondary writing and revision. ​The Clearing House, ​89(2). 54-60.

Zhang, C., Hur, J., Diamond, K. E., & Powell, D. (2015). Classroom writing environments

and children’s early writing skills: An observational study in head start classrooms.

Early Childhood Educational Journal,​ 43(4). 307-315.

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Appendix A

*Survey used for methodology