03/31/2022
By Lizzie Casanave

The School of Education invites you to attend an Ed.D. Dissertation Defense by Christopher Cowherd on “Evaluating the Impact of Evidence-based Writing Instruction in an International School in Thailand.”

Date: April 13, 2022
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Location: This will be a virtual dissertation defense via Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact Stacy_Szczesiul@uml.edu to request access to the Zoom link.

Dissertation Chair: Stacy Szczesiul, Ed.D., Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Dissertation Committee:

  • Shanna Thompson, Ed.D., Center for Program Evaluation Manager, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Ann Dean, Ph.D., Associate Professor, English Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Abstract:
There is a growing need for improved English language instruction for students in Thailand, as the country’s government and business interests become even more global. Yet nationally, the Thai population has a relatively low English proficiency rating. Thai public schools have made efforts to improve English proficiency with limited success. Due to social and economic pressure, Thai families, particularly those with means, have looked to international schools to provide higher-quality English instruction. While these schools have provided an improvement in English teaching, some of them have challenges that have made developing consistently high-quality instruction difficult to maintain. With nearly two hundred international schools, Bangkok has only a few with high populations of native English speakers. Additionally, these schools tend to have mobile teachers who regularly move to other international schools. At the same time, some teachers in these schools might have limited exposure and training working with high populations of English language learners, particularly in writing.

This study documents how one such school chose to improve English teaching and learning in writing. By evaluating the impact of implementing the 6+1 Traits® Writing across the school curriculum, this study on the ongoing improvement of student writing proficiency. This study found that the implementation of practices can be seen through teachers’ knowledge as well as the products they produce for learning. There is also evidence that this focus on writing has positively impacted student learning. Furthermore, the study has shed light on the organizational conditions for growth and evaluated the extent to which these conditions influence successful implementation 6+1 Traits® Writing, which have for future development in the study context.