Writing performance of elementary school students in rural areas of Colombia: a comparative study by gender

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine the writing performance of elementary school children in rural areas of Colombia and its relationship with gender, using a non-experimental, correlational and comparative quantitative research approach. The instrument selected to measure the level of writing was the Writing test of the Child Neuropsychological Evaluation Test ENI-2, validated in the Colombian population, which was applied to a sample of 1029 primary school children between 7 and 16 years of age (52.9% were boys and 47.1% girls). The results showed that, in general terms, both boys and girls have a performance close to the normative mean in writing, being in the domain of accuracy the one with the best scores, followed by narrative composition and speed. Likewise, statistically significant differences were found in favor of girls, although with small magnitudes. In conclusion, students in general do not exceed the average in writing scores, showing the need to increase the resources of rural schools and also to provide gender-focused support.