Functional Approach to the Teaching of Language Arts Through Letter Writing

Abstract

This research investigated the idea that if young students felt a need to communicate in written form, their skills would develop in a natural way without structured, formal lessons. The exchange of pen pal letters between a gifted second grade class and teacher education students was the focus of the study. The letter exchange created a natural need to communicate by sending and receiving messages. Pretests and post tests were used to measure attitude toward letter writing. Evaluations were made of first and last letters to measure skill development. The second grade students showed growth in positive attitude toward writing and in letter writing skill.