Teachers were asked to evaluate the frequency of written activities according to Rose and Martin's (2012) categorization of text types. The three categories of text types are engaging, informing, and evaluating. Three other types of written activities often assigned in Icelandic classrooms were also added to the questionnaire. These activities include PowerPoint presentations, textbook and worksheet responses, and multimedia pieces with images, audio, or video.
The most common writing tasks assigned in Icelandic primary and secondary classrooms were:
Most primary (32.23%) and secondary (35.33%) teachers used textbooks and worksheets at least once a week as writing activities in the classroom. Science teachers at the secondary level assigned responses to textbooks and worksheets more often than other teachers, once a month (24.77%), once a week (35.33%), or several times a week (25.07%) (M=5).
The second most common text type assigned as writing tasks involved students writing descriptions on a specific phenomenon, such as an animal, human behavior, or weather. Primary teachers assigned the text type either once a semester (33.03%) or once a month (32.1%), while secondary teachers assigned the text type more commonly once a month (30.5%). Science teachers at the primary level assigned description more often than other teachers, either once a month (38.7%) or once a week (32.3%) (M=3.85).
Another commonly written text at both levels is giving explanations on "how" and "why" something happens, such as the cycle of water, heart attacks, wars, or natural disasters. Science teachers at the secondary level rated the highest in assigning explanations once a month (35%) or once a week (40%) in the classroom (M=4.09).
Engaging text types are more frequently assigned at the primary level than at the secondary level. The most common engaging text types assigned at the primary level are fictional texts that can influence attitudes and emotions, such as short stories, plays, blogs, and fairy tales. These texts are often assigned once a month (37.77%) or once a semester (33.40%) by teachers.
Primary school language teachers are more likely to assign this type once a month (31.50%) (M=3.42) or once a semester (43.80%) (M=3.42). However, social studies (42.90%) (M=3.35) and science (38.9%) (M=3.05) teachers assign fictional text types once a month. At the secondary level, language (38.5%) and social studies (40.0%) teachers assign fictional texts once a semester, while a majority of science teachers never assign them (80.0%).
Autobiographies and biographies are mostly assigned by primary teachers once a semester (42.57%) and never by secondary teachers (55.37%), specifically secondary school science teachers (87.5%). Although both levels assign journal writing, primary school teachers assign them more commonly once a month (23.4%), once a semester (34.23%), or once a year (26.07%), opposed to once a month (23.43%) or never (38.60%) at the secondary level. Science teachers assign journals the least or never (47.10%).
Informative text types are more frequently assigned at the secondary level than at the primary level, with the exception of descriptions and recipes and instructions. Factual recounts and accounts are slightly more commonly assigned at the secondary level by social studies (M=3.5) and language (M=2.88) teachers than science teachers at both levels, primary science school teachers (M=3.1) and secondary school teachers (M=2). Assigning explanations of a situation or phenomenon is more frequently assigned once a week (24.90%) or once a month (29.10%) at the secondary level, specifically by social studies (M=3.94) and science (M=4.08) teachers.
Descriptions are commonly assigned at both levels but slightly more frequent at the primary level and secondary level in social studies (M=3.56-3.74) and sciences (M=3.31-3.56), opposed to in the language classroom (M=2.79-3.02). Informative text types also include reports and procedures. Reports are more commonly assigned at the secondary level by all content teachers (M=1.95-3.15), but more frequently assigned by science teachers once a month (43.85%) (M=3.15) and social studies teachers once a semester (64%) (M=2.64), but never by language teachers ((47.3%). A large number of primary school teachers never assign reports as assignments, languages (65.8%) and social studies (38.7%).
Recipes and step-by-step instructions are commonly assigned at the primary level, mainly by science teachers (M=3.3) either once a month (36.7%) or once a semester (30.0%). Similarly, 44.4% of science teachers (M=2.77) at secondary level assign reports and instructional text types, whereas 55.4% of language teachers and 72.7% of social studies teachers never assign instructional or reporting text types. The least common text types relate to procedural texts such as games.