Promoting elementary school students’ writing skills: evaluation of pedagogical practices

Writing is a central means of communication in everyday life. However, there are challenges in the teaching-learning process of writing, whereby there is a growing need to assure the quality and impact of pedagogical practices. This study evaluates the impact of pedagogical practices aimed at reducing orthographic errors presented by Portuguese eight-year-old students followed during a teaching academic internship. This study was conducted with seven students, five girls and two boys, attending third grade in a public elementary school in Northern Portugal. Students’ written productions were considered to identify typologies of orthographic errors. Data were collected at two occurrences of measurement, both before and after the implementation of the pedagogical practices. Descriptive statistics results generally suggested a decrease of the orthographic errors from the first to the second occurrences of measurement. These findings illustrate the need to evaluate the impact of pedagogical practices on students’ learning. Results are discussed based on the literature and implications for future research/practices are retrieved.