Date of Award
Spring 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Education Policy, Planning, and Administration
Committee Chairperson
Mimi Stualters, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Heather Leaman, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Pauline Schmidt, Ph.D.
Abstract
This study explores how high school writers develop their writing identities and how their writing identities impact students' writing self-efficacy. This study emphasized how high school writers’ experiences with academic and creative writing, teacher and peer feedback, and personal beliefs about writing shape how they view themselves as writers and their abilities to create and complete a writing task. Utilizing a hybrid methodology through hermeneutic phenomenology and social cognitive theory, this study examines the lived experiences of eight participants in southeastern Pennsylvania. Through journals, interviews, and artifact collection, this study identified key themes such as writing identity development, influences in writing growth and development, the role of self-expression and emotional processing in writing development, self-efficacy, social pressures, and writing confidence. The findings of this study suggest that a high school writer’s writing identity is multifaceted and shaped by various academic expectations and personal expression. This study also determined that a high school writer’s writing self-efficacy is defined by positive feedback. Given these findings, it was suggested that educators balance academic writing with creative expression at the high school level to promote a supportive writing environment for high school students to build positive writing identities and self-efficacies.
Recommended Citation
Wisniewski, Emily, "Voices of High School Writers: Exploring Perceptions and Experiences in Secondary Writing Education" (2025). West Chester University Doctoral Projects. 296.
https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/all_doctoral/296