Assessing elementary school pupils' narrative skills. A longitudinal study of the impact of current Greek language teaching practices

Department of Elementary Education, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

^a e-mail: afterniati@upatras.gr

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to discuss the findings of a research study focusing on the narrative writing skills of Greek elementary school 6^th grade pupils, comparing the pupils' performance before the current language teaching material was introduced, and both one and six years after its implementation. An effort was also made to explore whether the pupils' skills are influenced by gender, social background and teachers' practices regarding written discourse production. The research participants come from 10 public elementary schools. The findings of the study indicate that, already after the first year, the pupils' narrative skills display a remarkable improvement, which is even further increased after six years. It also suggests that their skills relate to their gender, social background, and current teachers' practices. Despite a general enhancement, the pupils of the sample overall display a mediocre performance.