A Systematic Review of Explicit Instruction and Frequency Building Interventions to Teach Students to Write

A primary goal of educational settings in the United States is to produce competent writers. However, most students do not receive adequate instruction and practice beyond grade three. Furthermore, only 29% of high school graduates without disabilities, and 5% with disabilities exit with proficient writing skills (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). There is growing body of evidence for the use of explicit instruction and timed practice interventions to teach writing skills to struggling writers. However, to date there is no review of these combined strategies (i.e., explicit instruction and timed practice) to teach writing skills. The current review analyzed 10 studies that met the What Works Clearinghouse Single Case Design Standards 5.0 and included 53 students who received explicit instruction and timed practice interventions for sentence-level writing skills. Results from the independent analysis show that explicit instruction and timed practice have a significant impact on decreasing the frequency of incorrect writing performance and establish the need for additional research on frequency building strategies for writing skills. Results of the review, recommendations for educators, and future directions for researchers are discussed.