Learning to write a comparison text in second grade of elementary school : a comparative study of contrasting didactic interventions
This paper presents the results of a study to verify the efficacy of a didactic sequence on the writing performance of primary school 2nd graders. This sequence is characterized by the specific teaching of text structure and of linguistic processes enabling text-writing tasks of an expository comparison text. The study compared the effects of a didactic sequence divided into two procedural steps according to a method of pre-testing/post-testing both a control and an experimental group. In general, comparison between the two groups shows that the specific teaching given to students in the experimental group had a significant effect on their ability to produce a comparative structure and to use thematization processes specifically related to this structure.