A Matter of Structure and Argument, Not Grammar and Style: Strengths and Challenges in Social-Work Student Writing

Background and Purpose: Student writing is a frequent focus of social-work degree programs, but most social-work writing pedagogy research emphasizes grammar and style over argument and organization using limited statistical methods. In order to discern more clearly the writing-related strengths and challenges of social-work students, the present study targets a core writing assignment in “Human Behavior and the Social Environment” (HBSE). The study’s goal is to discern where students have the greatest difficulty (i.e., surface issues of grammar and APA vs. rhetorical issues related to deeper learning as indicated by argument and organization). In addition, we adopt a person-in-environment (PIE) perspective to examine whether students’ demographic backgrounds predict writing performance.

Methods: The study analyzed papers from 4 BSW sections and 2 MSW sections of HBSE (N = 125; 84.8% female; 35.2% African American, M_age 30.21, SD = 9.89).  Two raters evaluated each paper on four constructs (argument, organization, grammar, and APA) using a 5-point scale, and correlations confirmed high inter-rater reliability. Following univariate and bivariate analyses, the individual constructs were regressed on demographic variables hypothesized to predict performance among the BSW students using hierarchical linear regression.

Results:  Students scored highest on APA (M = 2.86, SD = 1.03) compared to argument, where they scored the lowest (M = 2.44, SD = .89). Female BSW students scored statistically significantly higher on grammar than male BSW students (M = 2.73, SD = .74 vs. = 2.25, SD = .78). Among MSW students, White students scored statistically significantly higher than African American students on argument (M = 3.34, SD = .99 vs. M = 2.61, SD = .72) and organization (M = 3.45, SD = .74 vs. M = 2.82, SD = .46). Regression analyses showed that GPA statistically significantly predicted higher organization (β = .242) and APA (β = .307) scores, whereas females (β = .236) scored statistically significantly higher than males, and White (β = .236) students scored statistically significantly higher than their peers on grammar.  

Conclusions and Implications:  The most recent prior studies on social-work student writing are nearly a decade old, so the present study provides a much-needed update. Lower scores in argument and organization indicate that students struggle less with correct grammar and style than with articulating a clear argument, and one that generates new knowledge rather than reporting existing information. These results underscore the need for greater in-class emphasis on the writing process as a knowledge-production process, along with adequate supplementary resources. However, from a PIE perspective, the predictive results regarding race and ethnicity raise more general questions about the accessibility and culture-sensitivity of requirements for standardized language use; students from diverse backgrounds may experience these requirements as alienating, or even oppressive. We recommend a broader dialogue about race and culture within the social-work academic environment. Finally, while we did not assess causal pathways, future research may consider how problems with argumentation (again, in terms of both the argument and organization constructs) contribute to surface-level issues with grammar and use of APA.