Variation in Writing Conference Influence on Revision: Two Cases.

A study described the influence of writing conferences on revision knowledge and revision activity for an initially knowledgeable first-grade reviser and a relatively naive one. Subjects, two first-grade students in a whole language classroom, were chosen from the 16 students in the class for close study. Data analysis consisted of reading all of the writing and transcripts of interviews and conferences; determining the quality of first and last draft of each composition; coding conference talk; tracing comments between conferences, interviews, and revisions carried out; calculating counts of revisions the children talked about in interviews and revisions they carried out; and reviewing the teacher's observations about the two children's behavior in the classroom. Results indicated: (1) that conference influence was variable, both within and across children; and (2) dramatic differences were noted between the two children in conference influence, with only the initially naive writer profiting significantly from conferences and evidencing clear developmental progress in revision. (Four tables of data are included; 38 references are attached.) (RS)