Teaching writing in Chile An evidence base for policies on writing instruction in Grades 7-12 of Chilean public schools

This study aimed to provide evidence for strengthening writing instruction in Grades 7-12 of Chilean public schools. More specifically, it intended to describe the implementation of domain-specific paradigms of literacy instruction that are prescribed in the Chilean Language curriculum, by focusing on teachers' writing practices and related beliefs, within the contextual features that frame them.
182 Language teachers working in Grades 7-12 of Chilean public schools participated in an online survey which focused on teachers' writing related practices and beliefs. In addition, a multiple-case analysis was conducted in which five teachers who had previously responded to the survey were interviewed and their lessons were observed.
Results indicated that writing instruction in Chilean public classrooms seems to follow clear macro-linguistic guidelines and has a clear socio-cultural basis. Lessons are commonly designed based on the linear decomposition of the writing process, while prioritizing micro-linguistic features without promoting authentic communicative writing. Teachers generally seem to select elements from different curricular paradigms without integrating them into a coherent whole. Furthermore, teachers' training for writing education and the curricular resources they rely on seem to influence the choices they make in the classroom.
This study forms a stepping stone for building the required evidence base for educational public policies aiming to strengthen Chilean adolescents’ writing skills effectively. In addition, it can provide guidance to the international scientific community, by presenting a context-based state of the art of Chilean teachers’ practices in relation to their beliefs about writing instruction.