A CASE STUDY OF THE COMPOSING PROCESS OF SECONDARY THREE STUDENTS IN THE GIFTED EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the composing process of Secondary Three students in the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) in Singapore. It serves as an exploratory case study to investigate an area where very little research has been carried out previously. Writing has been seen by researchers in the field to be a problem-solving activity which can enhance the metacognition of an individual. According to Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987), there are two models of composing -- the Knowledge-Telling Model and the Knowledge-Transforming Model. The latter model is a more mature way of thinking through the composing process and offers an opportunity of enhancing the metacogntion of the writer in the process of composing. It is also found in talented young writers. As such, it is expected to be found in the sample of gifted students in this study. The study found that the composing processes of the individual gifted students studied resemble the Knowledge- Transforming Model of composing to varying degrees. The proficient writers displayed the most evidence of having composed under this model. They seemed to be more sensitive to the rhetorical situation of the writing as compared to their more average counterparts. Of the three average writers, one of them seemed to indicate that she had been composing under the Knowledge-Telling Model, a model of composing that is regarded as immature relative to the other model.