Article

Structural relations of language and cognitive skills, and topic knowledge to written composition: A test of the direct and indirect effects model of writing

December 2019
British Journal of Educational Psychology 90(4)

Authors:

University of California, Irvine

Background: Writing involves multiple processes, drawing on a number of language, cognitive, and print-related skills, and knowledge. According to the Direct and Indirect Effects model of Writing (DIEW; Kim & Park, 2019, Reading and Writing, 32, 1319), these multiple factors have hierarchical, interactive, and dynamic relations. Aims: I examined the hierarchical relations of language and cognitive skills to written composition as well as the relation of topic knowledge to written composition, using DIEW as a theoretical framework. Sample: One hundred thirty-two English-speaking students in Grade 4 were assessed on written composition, topic knowledge, oral language (vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, discourse-level oral production), higher order cognitions (inference, perspective taking [theory of mind], monitoring), domain-general cognitions (working memory and attention), and transcription skills (spelling and handwriting fluency). Methods: Structural equation modelling was used to compare hierarchical relations models with a direct or flat relations model. Results: The hierarchical relations model was supported. Discourse oral language skills and transcription skills completely mediated the relations of the other component skills to written composition, and the included component skills explained 82% of variance in written composition. Substantial total effects were found for discourse language, transcription, attention, working memory, vocabulary, theory of mind, and grammatical knowledge. Topic knowledge was moderately related to writing, but this relation became weak once the other skills were accounted for. Conclusions: Component skills have hierarchical structural relations and make direct and indirect contributions to written composition. Furthermore, the role of topic knowledge in written composition appears constrained by language and transcription skills for developing writers.

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023
READ WRIT

This research aims at exploring in an irregular orthographic system like French, if spelling is related to written composition. French spelling is particularly interesting because it includes phonographic irregularities (i.e., inconsistencies), lexical difficulties and numerous morphological silent marks (e.g., plural noun, adjective, and verb agreement). In a longitudinal study from the beginning of Grade 3 to the end of Grade 4, pupils (N = 173) were asked twice in every grade to compose narrative texts from strips. Text length, text completeness and three categories of spelling errors were coded and analyzed through multilevel growth curve models. Results show (1) a growing relationship between text production and orthographic performance, (2) that this relationship varied according to whether it related to text length or to text completeness, and (3) its strength and evolution depended on the type of errors (phonographic, lexical, or morphological).

Learning to read and write

Chapter

Nov 2022

Young-Suk Kim

Reading and writing involve print-related and meaning-making processes, which draw on numerous skills and knowledge. The contributing skills and knowledge, and reading and writing have (a) hierarchical relations where lower order skills support higher order skills in a systematic and cascaded way; (b) interactive relations where reading and writing skills, and their contributing skills develop interactively, influencing each other, mediated by learning experience and practice; (c) reading and writing difficulties co-occur; and (d) dynamic relations where reading-writing relations change depending on the development of word reading and spelling skills, grain size of reading and writing, and tasks and measurement.

Perspective taking and language features in secondary students’ text-based analytical writing

Article

Oct 2022

This study examined the extent of perspective taking and language features represented in secondary students’ text-based analytical writing. We investigated (1) whether perspective taking is related to writing quality, accounting for language features in writing; (2) whether students’ English learner status is related to perspectives represented in their writing; and (3) whether the relation between perspective taking and writing quality differs by the level of language features (e.g., syntactic diversity, appropriate word usage, and tone). Secondary students’ text-based analytical essays (N= 195, Grades 7–12) were coded for perspective taking and language features and analyzed using multiple regression. There was a higher frequency of own-side perspectives than dual perspectives. Dual perspective was related to writing quality after accounting for student demographics and grade levels. However, the relation was no longer statistically significant when language features were accounted for. English learners exhibited significantly less own-side perspectives compared to their English-only counterparts, but there was no difference in dual perspectives, which might be due to overall low frequency of dual perspectives represented in students’ text-based analytical writing. The findings suggest the roles of both perspective taking and language features in quality writing.

Writing From Multiple Perspectives: Relations of Perspective-Taking, Language Features, and Writing Quality for Adolescents

Conference Paper

Jan 2022

Minkyung Cho

Do Written Language Bursts Mediate the Relations of Language, Cognitive, and Transcription Skills to Writing Quality?

Article

Feb 2022
WRIT COMMUN

Young-Suk Kim

In this study, we examined burst length and its relation with working memory, attentional control, transcription skills, discourse oral language, and writing quality, using data from English-speaking children in Grade 2 ( N = 177; M age = 7.19). Results from structural equation modeling showed that burst length was related to writing quality after accounting for transcription skills, discourse oral language, working memory, and attentional control. Burst length completely mediated the relations of attentional control and handwriting fluency to writing quality, whereas it partially mediated the relations of working memory and spelling to writing quality. Discourse oral language had a suppression effect on burst length but was positively and independently related to writing quality. Working memory had an indirect relation to burst length via transcription skills, whereas attentional control had a direct and indirect relation. These results suggest roles of domain-general cognitions and transcription skills in burst length, and reveal the nature of their relations to writing quality.

Crosslinguistic Transfer of Higher Order Cognitive Skills and Their Roles in Writing for English-Spanish Dual Language Learners

Article

Oct 2021

We investigated the dimensionality and relations between L1 and L2 writing skills in narrative and informational genres, and higher order cognitive skills-inference, perspective taking, and comprehension monitoring-for Spanish-English dual language learners in primary grades. Dimensions of written composition and higher order cognitive skills were examined, comparing nine alternative models. Data from 317 dual language learners in Grades 1 and 2 were used in confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. For the dimensionality of written composition, a unidimensional model, where writing was characterized as a single underlying construct across languages (Spanish and English) and genres (narrative & opinion), fit the data best. With regard to the dimensionality of higher order cognitive skills, data supported a bifactor model with (a) a general factor that captures common variance across languages and across inference, perspective taking, and comprehension monitoring skills and (b) specific factors by language (Spanish and English). The higher order cognition general factor was fairly strongly related to writing quality (.59), and the relation remained even after accounting for sex, poverty status, grade level, English learner status, school, and biliterate status. These relations were similar for students in English immersion program and Spanish-English dual immersion programs. These results indicate potential cross-language transfer of higher order cognitive skills, and the roles of higher order cognitions in written composition for Spanish-English dual language learners.

Expanding the Direct and Indirect Effects Model of Writing (DIEW): Reading-Writing Relations, and Dynamic Relations As a Function of Measurement/Dimensions of Written Composition

Article

Oct 2021

Within the context of the Direct and Indirect Effects Model of Writing (Kim & Park, 2019), we examined a dynamic relations hypothesis, which contends that the relations of component skills, including reading comprehension, to written composition vary as a function of dimensions of written composition. Specifically, we investigated (a) whether higher-order cognitive skills (i.e., inference, perspective taking, and monitoring) are differentially related to three dimensions of written composition—writing quality, writing productivity, and correctness in writing; (b) whether reading comprehension is differentially related to the three dimensions of written composition after accounting for oral language, cognition, and transcription skills, and whether reading comprehension mediates the relations of discourse oral language and lexical literacy to the three dimensions of written composition; and (c) whether total effects of oral language, cognition, transcription, and reading comprehension vary for the three dimensions of written composition. Structural equation model results from 350 English-speaking second graders showed that higher-order cognitive skills were differentially related to the three dimensions of written composition. Reading comprehension was related only to writing quality, but not to writing productivity or correctness in writing, and reading comprehension differentially mediated the relations of discourse oral language and lexical literacy to writing quality. Total effects of language, cognition, transcription, and reading comprehension varied largely for the three dimensions of written composition. These results support the dynamic relation hypothesis, role of reading in writing, and the importance of accounting for dimensions of written composition in a theoretical model of writing.

Writing Instruction Improves Students’ Writing Skills Differentially Depending on Focal Instruction and Children: A Meta-Analysis for Primary Grade Students

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2021
Educ Res Rev

We investigated the effect of writing interventions on written composition for students in primary grades (K-G3) with a focus on whether effects vary as a function of different dimensions of composition outcomes (i.e., quality, productivity, fluency, and other), instructional focus (e.g., transcription, self-regulation strategies such as Self-Regulated Strategy Development [SRSD]), and student characteristics (i.e., initially weak writing skills). A total of 24 studies (number of effect sizes, k = 166; N = 5589 participants) met inclusion criteria. The overall mean effect size was moderate and positive (ES = 0.31) with some variation across the dimensions of composition: 0.32 in writing quality, 0.31 in writing productivity, 0.15 in writing fluency, and 0.34 in writing: other. SRSD had large and consistent effect sizes across the outcomes (0.59–1.04) whereas transcription instruction did not yield statistically significant effects on any dimensions of composition due to large variation of effects across studies. Variation in instructional dosage (total length of instruction) did not explain variation in the effect sizes. Lastly, the average effect on writing quality was larger for writers with weaker writing skills compared to those with typical skills.

Does Perspective Taking Matter for Writing? Perspective Taking in Source-Based Analytical Writing of Secondary Students

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2021
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Perspective taking, one’s knowledge of their own mental and emotional states and inferences about others’ mental and emotional states, is an important skill for writing development. In the present study, we examined how perspective taking is expressed in writing and how it is related to overall writing quality. We analyzed seventh graders’ source-based analytical essays (N = 195) to investigate (1) the extent to which students incorporated perspective taking in their essays, (2) how the extent of perspective taking in essays differ by students’ sex and English learner status, and (3) the extent to which perspective taking in writing is associated with overall writing quality. Findings revealed that students wrote more from their own perspective than that of others. Moreover, the results of multi-level analyses suggested that female students exhibited more varied perspectives but there was no meaningful difference by English learner status. Lastly, greater extent of perspective taking, particularly that of higher level of perspectives (i.e., dual perspective), was associated with better writing quality, after accounting for students’ demographic backgrounds (e.g., sex, poverty status, English learner status) and essay length. These results underscore the importance of writing from multiple perspectives on writing quality.

Simple but not simplistic: The simple view of reading unpacked and expanded

Article

Apr 2020

Young-Suk Kim

The Simple View of Reading has been extensively studied and supported in the research literature, across languages and writing systems. Simplicity of the simple view of reading is a strength in that it is easy to work with. On other hand, simplicity is an important shortcoming as critical information about the details underlying decoding and linguistic comprehension is not detailed. In this article, I update and expand the simple view using the direct and indirect effects model of reading (DIER), which captures both simplicity and complexity of reading.

UC Irvine UC Irvine Previously Published Works Title Do Second Graders Adjust Their Language by Discourse Context? Publication Date

Article

Feb 2023

Purpose: Children’s ability to adjust one’s language according to discourse context is important for success in academic settings. This study examined whether second graders vary in linguistic and discourse features depending on discourse contexts, that is, when describing pictures in contextualized (describing the picture to an examiner while looking at it together) and decontextualized (pretending to describe the picture to a friend while sitting in front of the examiner) conditions. Method: A total of 330 English-speaking second graders in the United States (Mage = 7.33 years; 53% boys; 55% Caucasian children, 35% African American children) described three pictures in contextualized and decontextualized conditions. Children’s picture descriptions were transcribed verbatim and coded for linguistic (e.g., elaborated noun phrase) and discourse (e.g., proper character introduction, degree of decontextualization) features. Results: Type–token ratio was higher in the contextualized condition than in the decontextualized condition, whereas certain types of elaborated noun phrases (e.g., simple descriptive noun phrase, noun phrase with postmodification), coordinating conjunctions, and nonclauses occurred more frequently in the decontextualized condition, controlling for total productivity and student demographics. The proportion of proper character introduction was higher in the decontextualized condition, whereas higher degrees of decontextualization and complex perspective-taking were found in the contextualized condition. Conclusion: Various linguistic and discourse cues illustrated the extent to which primary grade students employ their discourse knowledge when producing oral language.

Do Second Graders Adjust Their Language by Discourse Context?

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023
LANG SPEECH HEAR SER

Purpose: Children's ability to adjust one's language according to discourse context is important for success in academic settings. This study examined whether second graders vary in linguistic and discourse features depending on discourse contexts, that is, when describing pictures in contextualized (describing the picture to an examiner while looking at it together) and decontextualized (pretending to describe the picture to a friend while sitting in front of the examiner) conditions. Method: A total of 330 English-speaking second graders in the United States (M age = 7.33 years; 53% boys; 55% Caucasian children, 35% African American children) described three pictures in contextualized and decontextualized conditions. Children's picture descriptions were transcribed verbatim and coded for linguistic (e.g., elaborated noun phrase) and discourse (e.g., proper character introduction, degree of decontextualization) features. Results: Type-token ratio was higher in the contextualized condition than in the decontextualized condition, whereas certain types of elaborated noun phrases (e.g., simple descriptive noun phrase, noun phrase with postmodification), coordinating conjunctions, and nonclauses occurred more frequently in the decontextualized condition, controlling for total productivity and student demographics. The proportion of proper character introduction was higher in the decontextualized condition, whereas higher degrees of decontextualization and complex perspective-taking were found in the contextualized condition. Conclusion: Various linguistic and discourse cues illustrated the extent to which primary grade students employ their discourse knowledge when producing oral language.

Facilitating Text Production in Fourth Graders: Effects of Script-Based Knowledge and Writing Prompts

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022

This study aimed at providing evidence that prior knowledge (semantic relatedness) and its organization (scripted versus not related) prompted either through pictures alone, pictures and associated words, words only have different impacts on several components of text produced by fourth graders. The results showed that the semantic relatedness affected three dependent measures: prompt words recalled, coherence and quality of texts. The nature of the prompts impacted on planning (number of ideas) and translating (number of propositions and length of texts) processes. Findings, instructional applications, limitations, and proposals for future research are discussed.

of Learning DisabilitiesKim Co-Occurrence of Reading and Writing Difficulties: The Application of the Interactive Dynamic Literacy Model

Article

May 2011

Young-Suk Kim

This article presents the application of the interactive dynamic literacy (IDL) model (Kim, 2020a) toward understanding difficulties in learning to read and write. According to the IDL model, reading and writing are part of communicative acts that draw on largely shared processes and skills as well as unique processes and skills. As such, reading and writing are dissociable but interdependent systems that have hierarchical, interactive, and dynamic relations. These key tenets of the IDL model are applied to the disruption of reading and writing development to explain co-occurrence of reading–writing difficulties using a single framework. The following hypotheses are presented: (a) co-occurrence between word reading and spelling and handwriting difficulties; (b) co-occurrence of dyslexia with written composition difficulties; (c) cooccurrence between reading comprehension and written composition difficulties; (d) co-occurrence of language difficulties with reading difficulties and writing difficulties; (e) co-occurrence of reading, writing, and language difficulties with weak domain-general skills or executive functions such as working memory and attentional control (including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]); and (f) multiple pathways for reading and writing difficulties. Implications are discussed.

Co-Occurrence of Reading and Writing Difficulties: The Application of the Interactive Dynamic Literacy Model

Article

Jan 2022

Young-Suk Kim

This article presents the application of the interactive dynamic literacy (IDL) model (Kim, 2020a) toward understanding difficulties in learning to read and write. According to the IDL model, reading and writing are part of communicative acts that draw on largely shared processes and skills as well as unique processes and skills. As such, reading and writing are dissociable but interdependent systems that have hierarchical, interactive, and dynamic relations. These key tenets of the IDL model are applied to the disruption of reading and writing development to explain co-occurrence of reading–writing difficulties using a single framework. The following hypotheses are presented: (a) co-occurrence between word reading and spelling and handwriting difficulties; (b) co-occurrence of dyslexia with written composition difficulties; (c) co-occurrence between reading comprehension and written composition difficulties; (d) co-occurrence of language difficulties with reading difficulties and writing difficulties; (e) co-occurrence of reading, writing, and language difficulties with weak domain-general skills or executive functions such as working memory and attentional control (including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]); and (f) multiple pathways for reading and writing difficulties. Implications are discussed.

Dimensions of text-based analytical writing of secondary students

Article

Jan 2022

To understand text-based analytical writing quality, we examined (a) the dimensions of this genre, (b) relations between these dimensions, (c) how student demographics factors predict performance in the identified dimensions of writing quality, and (d) how the identified dimensions predict overall writing quality. Text-based analytical writing data from grades 7–12 students (N = 206) were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results showed that the dimensions of writing quality were best captured by a three factor model. Ideas/Structure, Evidence Use, and Language Use were related, but dissociable dimensions of writing. Key demographic variables predicted performance across dimensions in unique ways, which in turn, predicted holistic scores. Specifically, female students outperformed males in each dimension and English only students performed higher than English Learners in each dimension. We discuss the implications of a multidimensional view of writing quality in light of writing evaluation in research and practice.

Oral sentence generation training to improve fifth and 10th graders' writing

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2021
READ WRIT

Text generation-the mental translation of ideas into language at word, sentence, and discourse levels-involves oral language abilities. However, oral language skills are rarely a target of writing interventions. We ran an intervention to improve fifth and 10th graders' written production through the development of oral sentence generation (grammatical and syntactic) skills. One hundred and fifteen students-68 fifth graders (four classrooms) and 47 tenth graders (four classrooms)-participated in a stepped-wedge cluster-randomized controlled trial. Two fifth-grade classrooms (n = 35) and two 10th-grade classrooms (n = 20) received nine 90-min sessions (3 weeks, three sessions a week) of oral language intervention immediately after the pretest (experimental groups); the two other fifth-(n = 33) and 10th-grade classrooms (n = 27) received business-as-usual writing instruction and received a delayed oral language intervention after the posttest (waiting list group). The intervention consisted of team-based games to improve oral sentence generation and sentence reformulation skills. We assessed written sentence generation, written sentence reformulation, written text quality (macrostructure and language), and text writing fluency before (pretest) and after (posttest) the intervention and 5 weeks after the intervention (follow-up). The results showed that training on oral sentence generation skills can lead to significant gains in both sentence generation and sentence reformulation skills and text macrostructural quality. Improvement at the sentence level was, however, significant only for the younger writers (fifth graders).

Linguistic Constructive Approach in Science Class

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

Prasannakumar Doss

The present study examines the effectiveness of Linguistic constructive approach in enhancing achievement in Science among V Standard students. An experimental design has been adopted. Linguistic constructive approach is independent variable and achievement in science is the dependent variable. Thirty students of standard 5th of a local School here the sample of subjects. The data of achievement in science on pre and post assessment were collected and computed for analysis. From statistical findings it is concluded that the Linguistic constructive approach enhancing the achievement in science of the students.

Contribution of Oral Narrative Textual Competence and Spelling Skills to Written Narrative Textual Competence in Bilingual Language Minority Children and Monolingual Peers

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2022

This study investigates the developmental pattern and relationships between oral narrative textual skills, spelling, and written narrative textual skills in monolingual and bilingual language-minority (BLM) children, L1-Chinese and L2-Italian. The aims were to investigate in monolingual and BLM children: (1) the developmental patterns of oral and writing skills across primary school years; (2) the pattern of relationships (direct and mediated) between oral narrative textual competence, spelling skills, and written narrative textual competence with age and socio-economic status (SES) taken under control. In total, 141 primary school children from grades 2 to 5 in Central Italy (44% BLM, 56% monolinguals) aged between 7 and 11 years (M-age = 8.59, SD = 1.13; 41% girls, 59% boys) obtained scores for oral and written narrative textual competence, spelling accuracy in dictation, and written texts. One-way ANOVA and ANOVA with robust method (Welch test) analyses and Bonferroni’s correction showed that BLM children had poorer spelling skills in dictation and written narrative textual competence (i.e., text structure) than their monolingual peers. After preliminary correlation analysis, the results of hierarchical regression showed that the relationship between oral and written narrative textual competence is completely mediated by spelling accuracy in BLM children. These results suggest that adequate performance in written narrative textual competence depends on adequate spelling accuracy in writing stories. The Sobel test verified the power of this mediation. In monolinguals, the strongest predictor of written narrative textual competence is oral narrative textual competence. This relation is stronger in older children whose spelling skills are automatized. The identified pattern of relationships shows a complex network of oral and written processes. The scarce spelling skills characterizing BLM children may explain why spelling skills determine a low written narrative textual level. Scarce spelling skills absorb cognitive resources, hindering high-level cognitive processes that regulate narrative production. In monolinguals, the medium of writing does not impact narrative textual competence. Children’s oral narrative textual competence easily transfers into their written narrative productions. These findings have implications for the assessment and instruction of literacy skills in young BLM children and their monolingual peers.

How do executive functions explain early Chinese reading and writing?

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2022
READ WRIT

This study investigated the direct and indirect associations of different executive function skills with Chinese word reading and writing. A total of 213 Cantonese-speaking kindergarteners (97 girls, mean age = 73.3 months) participated in this study. Their working memory, inhibition control, cognitive flexibility, orthographic knowledge, morphological awareness, word reading, and word writing were assessed. The results showed that working memory significantly explained word reading and writing through orthographic knowledge, and morphological awareness, respectively. Beyond that, working memory still predicted word writing directly. The direct path from inhibition control to word writing was also significant. Moreover, inhibition control played a significant indirect role in word reading and writing via morphological awareness. However, cognitive flexibility was only associated with word reading directly in this model. The findings highlighted the respective roles of executive function skills in early Chinese reading and writing. This helps to elucidate the important executive function skills needed for Chinese reading and writing.

Writing Motivation in School: Examining the Contribution of Motivation to Writing Performance in Portuguese Middle School Students

Thesis

Mar 2022

Ana Camacho

Writing is a key skill in literacy-dependent societies as well as a gateway to academic success and lifelong learning. However, many students do not develop robust writing skills and report low motivation to engage in writing tasks. The present thesis describes a systematic review, two observational studies, and one intervention study, whose main aim was to examine the contribution of motivation to writing performance in Portuguese middle school students. The systematic review summarized findings of 82 empirical studies. We identified 24 motivation-related constructs and found positive associations between these constructs and quantitative measures of writing performance. The first observational study examined the relations among self-efficacy, attitudes, writing frequency, and text quality of students in grades 5-6 and 7-8. Attitudes contributed to both literary and digital writing frequency and to the quality of narrative and opinion texts across grade-levels. Self-efficacy for self-regulation also made a significant contribution to narrative text quality across grade-levels. Digital writing frequency was significantly associated with text quality only in grades 7-8. Using the same sample, the second observational study investigated the relations among implicit theories, achievement goals, and text quality. We found that more incremental theories were associated with a greater endorsement of mastery goals and with higher text quality. Furthermore, a greater endorsement of mastery goals was associated with higher text quality, whereas a greater adoption of performance-approach goals was linked to lower text quality. Finally, the intervention study tested the impact of a writing instructional program for sixth graders and the added value of a brief growth mindset intervention. The writing program was effective in enhancing students’ text quality and length, but not self-efficacy nor implicit theories. Altogether, these findings underline the pivotal role that motivation plays in students’ writing performance.

Generative Adversarial Network-Based Short Sequence Machine Translation from Chinese to English

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022

With the acceleration of economic globalization, the economic contact, information exchange, and financial integration between countries become more and more frequent. In this context, the communication between different languages is also closer, so accurate translation between languages is of great significance. However, existing methods give little thought to short sequence machine translation from Chinese to English. This paper designs a generative adversarial network to solve the above problem. First, a conditional sequence generating adversarial net is constructed, which includes two adversarial submodels: a generator and a discriminator. The generator is designed to generate sentences that are difficult to distinguish from human-translated sentences, and the discriminator is designed to distinguish the sentences generated by the generator from human-translated sentences. In addition, static sentence-level BLEU values will be used as reinforcement targets for the generator. During training, both dynamic discriminators and static BLEU targets are used to evaluate the generated sentences, and the evaluation results are fed back to the generator to guide the generator's learning. Finally, experimental results on English-Chinese translation dataset show that the translation effect is improved by more than 8% compared with the traditional neural machine translation model based on recurrent neural network (RNN) after the introduction of generative adversative network.

Response to Intervention in first-grade writing instruction: a large-scale feasibility study

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022
READ WRIT

Early failure to learn writing skills might go unnoticed and unremedied unless teachers adopt specific strategies for identifying and supporting students who learn at a slower pace. We implemented a Response to Intervention (RTI) program for teaching narrative writing. Over 18 months from start of primary school, 161 Spanish children received instruction in strategies for planning text and training in handwriting and spelling, and completed very regular narrative writing tasks. Data from these tasks were analysed to identify students at risk of falling behind. These students then completed additional, parent-supervised training tasks. During this training the quality of these students’ texts improved more rapidly than those of their peers. The resulting decrease in difference relative to peers, as measured by both regular narrative tasks and by post and follow-up measures, was sustained after additional training ceased. Interviews and questionnaires found good parent and teacher buy-in, with some caveats. Findings therefore indicate the feasibility and potential value of a RTI approach to teaching writing in single-teacher, full-range, first-grade classes.

Mindful Acceptance Predicts Writing Achievement in 6th-Graders

Article

Sep 2021

Writing is a complex task that requires the activation and coordination of several processes. In addition to the research on the domain-specific factors that contribute to school achievement, there is an increasing interest on general variables, such as mindfulness. Here, we aimed to test the contribution of middle-grade students’ trait mindfulness to writing achievement, after controlling for well-known writing predictors. One hundred and eighty-seven 6th-graders (M = 11.66 years) were assessed on transcription, text quality, executive functions, and self-reported trait mindfulness. Preliminary analyses showed that our trait mindfulness measure had two factors: mindful awareness and acceptance. However, because only the latter was found to be reliable, main analyses were exclusively focused on the acceptance facet of mindfulness. A multiple hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. After controlling for demographic characteristics (Step 1), transcription skills (Step 2), and executive functions (Step 3), we examined the predictive role of mindful acceptance (Step 4) to writing achievement. Findings indicated that mindful acceptance had a significant contribution to writing achievement in Grade 6 (b = .18). These are pioneering findings about the contribution of mindful acceptance to writing. The putative mechanism underlying this contribution is discussed, and indications for future research are proposed.

Mindfulness acceptance predicts writing achievement in sixth graders

Article

Jan 2021

Writing is a highly complex and demanding task, that requires the activation and coordination of several processes. In addition to the extensive research on the domain-specific factors that contribute to school achievement, there has been an increasing interest on general variables, such as mindfulness. This study aimed to test the contribution of middle-grade students’ mindfulness skills to writing achievement, after controlling for well-known writing predictors. Participants were one hundred and eighty-seven Portuguese-native speakers in Grade 6 (M = 11.66 years). They were assessed on transcription, text quality, executive functions, and self-reported mindfulness skills. A multiple hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. After controlling for demographic characteristics (Step 1), transcription skills (Step 2), executive functions (Step 3), we examined the effects of mindful acceptance (Step 4) to writing achievement. Findings indicated that mindful acceptance had a significant and unique contribution to writing achievement in Grade 6 (b = .18).These are pioneering findings about the contribution of mindfulness to writing. The putative mechanism underlying the link between higher mindful acceptance and better texts is discussed, and indications for future research are proposed.

The Impact of Spelling, Vocabulary and Writing Fluency on Written Composition

Research Proposal

Jun 2021

Paula Lima

Writing is a social and cognitive complex process. In recent years, in Portugal, we have seen an increase in writing research, especially on early learning literacy processes in educational context. The purpose of this project is to understand the language translation process contribution to written composition quality. We specifically sought to analyze the influence of spelling ability, vocabulary and text writing fluency on written text quality in elementary school European portuguese students. Participants will be 100 fourth grade students attending public schools from the north of Portugal. All participants complete a sociodemographic questionnaire, a spelling test, a writing fluency test, the WISC-III Vocabulary subtest and an adapted writing composing task in which students must compose a written narrative based on a sequence of pictures. Writing composition research is core for the evidenced-based educational practices, as just as for cognitive psychology. Palavras-chave: text writing fluency, spelling, vocabulary, written composition

Theory of mind, mental state talk, and discourse comprehension: Theory of mind process is more important for narrative comprehension than for informational text comprehension

Article

Sep 2021
J EXP CHILD PSYCHOL

We investigated the relations among theory of mind (ToM), mental state talk, and discourse comprehension. Specifically, we examined the frequency of mental state talk in children’s oral recall of narrative texts and informational texts as well as relations among ToM, mental state talk (inclusion of mental state words in the recall of narrative and informational texts), and narrative and informational text comprehension. Results from children in Grade 4 (N = 132; Mage = 10.39 years) revealed that a greater number of mental state talk instances appeared in children’s recall of narrative texts than in their recall of informational texts, but the mean number also differed across texts within a genre. ToM skill predicted the extent of mental state talk in narrative texts and informational texts, and the relation was stronger for narrative texts than for informational texts, after accounting for vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, working memory, and attentional control. Mental state talk in narrative texts was extremely strongly related to narrative comprehension, whereas mental state talk in informational texts was weakly related to informational text comprehension. Results suggest that ToM skill relates to mental state talk in the recall of texts, and both ToM and mental state talk play greater roles in comprehension of narrative texts than in comprehension of informational texts.

Relations among motivation, behaviour, and performance in writing: A multiple‐group structural equation modeling study

Article

Jun 2021

Background: Writing is a particularly demanding activity, which poses unique motivational challenges for students. Despite the wealth of research on the relation between writing motivation and writing performance, little is known about the role of students' writing frequency in writing motivation and writing performance. Aims: We aimed to: (1) examine structural relations among two motivational variables (i.e., self-efficacy and attitudes), a behavioural variable (i.e., writing frequency), and writing performance; and (2) inspect whether these relations varied across two text genres (i.e., narrative and opinion texts) and across two educational levels (i.e., students in grades 5-6 and grades 7-8). Sample: Six hundred and five students from grades 5-8 participated in this study. Methods: Students completed self-report scales and wrote narrative and opinion texts. We conducted multiple-group structural equation modeling to analyse the data. Results: Regarding narrative texts, digital writing frequency was significantly associated with text quality for students in grades 7-8, but this relation was not significant in students from grades 5-6. Both attitudes and self-efficacy for self-regulation made a direct contribution to narrative text quality across educational levels. In addition, attitudes were associated with both literary and digital writing frequency across educational levels. Concerning opinion texts, no significant differences emerged in terms of educational level. Attitudes contributed to both literary and digital writing frequency as well as to opinion text quality across educational levels. Conclusions: This study underlines the fundamental contribution of motivational variables to students' writing performance. Accordingly, teachers need to adopt motivation-enhancing practices in writing instruction across grade levels.

The Simple Views of Reading and Writing: Frameworks for Interpretation of the Woodcock–Johnson IV

Article

Jun 2021
J PSYCHOEDUC ASSESS

Jason R. Parkin

The simple views of reading (SVRs) and writing (SVWs) reflect useful frameworks for the psychoeducational evaluation of literacy difficulties. They describe reading comprehension and written expression as the outcome of oral language, decoding, and transcription skills. Prior research has demonstrated that these components explain the vast majority of variance in comprehension and written expression. However, subtests’ specific task demands can influence the relationships among these components within the models. As a result, practitioners should know the degree to which various test batteries operationalize these frameworks. Using correlations from school-age participants provided in the technical manual, these analyses investigated the SVR and SVW within the Woodcock–Johnson IV battery through structural equation modeling. Results suggest that the battery’s measures conform to many of the expectations stemming from the SVR/SVW. However, its comprehension and written expression measures appear less language-influenced and more affected by decoding/spelling. Implications for psychoeducational practice are discussed.

Theory of mind mediates the relations of language and domain-general cognitions to discourse comprehension

Article

Feb 2020

Young-Suk Kim

Theory of mind has received intensive attention in research as an important skill to develop. Furthermore, recent evidence indicates its role in discourse comprehension. In the current study, we examined the mediating role of theory of mind in the relations of foun-dational language and cognitive skills (working memory, attentional control, vocabulary, and grammatical knowledge) to discourse comprehension using the direct and indirect effects model of text comprehension and production (Kim, 2016) as a theoretical framework, and using longitudinal data from kindergarten to Grade 2. Structural equation model results showed that theory of mind partially mediated the relations in both grades, and the effects (standardized regression weights) were similar in kindergarten and Grade 2. Interestingly, the relations of language and cognitive skills to theory of mind differed in kindergarten versus Grade 2. Language and cognitive skills had moderate to strong longitudinal stability, and these skills in kindergarten were indirectly related to discourse comprehension in Grade 2 via the language and cognitive skills in Grade 2. These results support the mediating role of theory of mind as well as the nature of structural and longitudinal relations among language and cognitive skills and to discourse comprehension.

An Analysis of the Relationship between Primary School Fourth-Grade Students’ Writing Performance, and Student and Class Variables

Article

Jan 2023

The aim of this study is to examine the writing performance of the primary school fourth-grade students in relation to the student-level variables (writing, reading comprehension, self-regulation-based writing, writing motivation, and writing anxiety) and classroom-level (teacher) variables (knowledge of text-writing instruction and text-writing instruction self-efficacy beliefs). The data were collected from Zonguldak, Turkey in 2019-2020 academic year. Correlational research method was used in the study, which consisted of 734 fourth-grade students at primary school and 31 classroom teachers. The data collection tools included the Story Text and Informative Text Assessment Analytical Rubric, Writing Achievement Test, Reading Comprehension Test, Self-Regulation-Based Writing Scale, Writing Motivation Scale, Writing Anxiety Scale, and Text-Writing Instruction Form for Classroom Teachers, and Text-Writing Instruction Self-Efficacy Beliefs Scale. A two-level Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) analysis was performed on the data. The results showed that students’ writing knowledge, reading comprehension level and self-regulation-based writing skills play a significant role on their writing performance. The student-level variables examined in this study account for the text-writing performance of students by 24%. The study presents the results based on the findings and recommendations based on the results.

Response to Cummins: The OHRC Right to Read Report will Move Ontario into the 21st Century

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

Perry Klein

In the April 2022 issue of the Journal of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Jim Cummins responded to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (2022a, 2022b) report on the Right to Read: Public Inquiry into Human Rights Issues Affecting Students with Reading Disabilities. He expressed several views on literacy education that are moderate and consistent with research. However, his very critical appraisal of the report is misdirected. The first section of the present article documents several recommendations and positions that Cummins attributes to the report but that it does not actually contain. The second section identifies five ways in which this report will bring Ontario’s special education policy into the 21st century, which Cummins has missed. The Right to Read report provides a paradigm for special education that Ontario should now apply to additional domains such as mathematics and social and emotional learning.

The relationship between executive functions and writing in children: a systematic review

Article

Feb 2023
CHILD NEUROPSYCHOL

Writing is a complex task that is acquired in the early primary school years and continues to develop through adolescence and beyond. Studying the cognitive processes that support writing skills during the acquisition phase may be crucial to support this complex skill especially in less-skilled writers. Executive Functions (EF) could have an important role as they are high cognitive control processes that allow individuals to control and plan thoughts and actions in order to achieve a goal. Given that EF have a crucial development during childhood, when the basic writing skills are acquired, this systema- tic review aims to investigate the contribution of the main EF components to the writing process in children. Search string focused on three main concepts: executive functions, writing, and children. Twenty-six studies were included following the guidelines of the PRISMA Statement. From the analyzed studies, working memory, in comparison to inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and plan- ning, emerged as the most studied and the most related to writing skills. Nevertheless, the results also support the involvement of all EF basic components in writing, with a role that could vary depend- ing on the considered writing process.

Yes, They Can: Developing Transcription Skills and Oral Language in Tandem with SRSD Instruction on Close Reading of Science Text to Write Informative Essays At Grades 1 and 2

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2023
CONTEMP EDUC PSYCHOL

This randomized controlled trial with first- and second-grade students is the first experimental study addressing long-running disagreements about whether primary grade students should develop transcription and oral language abilities before learning to compose. It is also the first study at these grade levels to teach close reading (using science text aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards) to plan and write a timed informative essay. Theoretically and evidence-based multi-component writing instruction was developed, termed “Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) Plus.” SRSD Plus integrates evidence-based practices for transcription (handwriting and spelling) and oral language skills (vocabulary and sentence structure) with SRSD instruction for close reading to learn and then write informative essays. A total of 93 children in Grade 1 (n = 46, 50% female) and Grade 2 (n = 47, 51% female) in a high poverty school participated in the study (50% boys; mean age = 6.68; SD = .48). Students were randomly assigned to either teacher-led SRSD Plus or business-as-usual (writers workshop) condition within class in each grade. SRSD Plus was implemented with small groups for 45 minutes, three times a week, for 10 weeks. Outcomes examined included: instructional fidelity, spelling, handwriting fluency, vocabulary, sentence proficiency, discourse knowledge, planning, writing quality, structural elements in informative essays, number of words written, use of transition words, text comprehension and use of source text. Results showed moderate to large effect sizes in writing outcomes, oral language skills (vocabulary and sentence proficiency), spelling, and discourse knowledge. Differential effects due to grade, gender, and race are examined, and directions for future research are discussed.

Linguistic Literacy: Twenty Years Later

Chapter

Oct 2022

Liliana Tolchinsky

The chapter provides an updated reappraisal of Ravid & Tolchinsky’s (2002) framework modeling linguistic literacy. The chapter suggests a re-elaboration of the model’s main constructs – rhetorical flexibility as an outcome of developing literacy, literacy as a domain of knowledge, and the developmental and representational status of literacy knowledge – in the light of the concerns that have impacted the domain of literacy during the last 20 years. The chapter concludes that from varied perspectives – theoretical, research-based, pedagogical, and sociopolitical – developing literacy en route to critical rhetorical flexibility is as timely as it was 20 years ago.KeywordsDeveloping literacyRhetorical flexibilityLinguistic variationPrinted and digital mediumEnabling factors

Expanding assessment to instructionally relevant writing components in middle school

Article

Oct 2022
J SCHOOL PSYCHOL

Although educators frequently use assessment to identify who needs supplemental instruction and if that instruction is working, there is a lack of research investigating assessment that informs what instruction students need. The purpose of the current study was to determine if a brief (approximately 20 min) task that reflects a common middle school expectation (writing in response to text) provides educators with information about students' strengths and weaknesses in four research-based components of writing. Results indicated that, at the end of elementary school (Grade 5), students' word- and sentence-level errors, text-level plan, and typing fluency predicted 43% of their performance in written composition quality and all these factors play a role in writing achievement. At the end of middle school (Grade 8), text-level plan and word-level accuracy remained important components. Implications for using assessment to guide selection of evidence-based writing instruction throughout middle school are discussed.

Self-Regulation in Early Writing Strategy Instruction

Article

May 2021

Experimental research on strategy instruction for beginning writers has only recently begun. This study investigated the role of self-regulation instruction in Grade 1 strategy learning. In a pretest-post-test quasi-experiment, 120 Grade 1 students participated in a unit of study on personal narrative in one of three conditions: (1) Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), which included instruction in goal-setting, strategy steps, coping, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement; (2) strategy instruction only (SO), which focused on the goal and steps of the strategy; (3) a control condition. Students in both strategy conditions, relative to the control, made large, statistically significant gains in text quality, word count, story features, and self-regulation knowledge. The SRSD condition resulted in greater self-regulation knowledge than the SO condition, which resulted in greater knowledge than the control. Pretest text quality did not interact significantly with condition. The effect of instruction on text quality was largely mediated by post-test self-regulation knowledge.

Interactive Dynamic Literacy Model: An Integrative Theoretical Framework for Reading-Writing Relations

Chapter

Jun 2020

Young-Suk Kim

I propose an integrative theoretical framework for reading and writing acquisition, called the interactive dynamic literacy model, after reviewing theoretical models of reading and writing, and recent efforts in integrating theoretical models within reading and writing, respectively. The central idea of the interactive dynamic literacy model is that reading and writing are inter-related, developing together, largely due to a shared constellation of skills and knowledge. Four core hypotheses of the interactive dynamic literacy model include (1) hierarchical structure of component skills with direct and indirect relations; (2) interactive relations between component skills, and between reading and writing; (3) co-morbidity of reading and writing difficulties; and (4) dynamic relations (relations change as a function of development, learner characteristics, and reading and writing measurement). Implications and future work are discussed.

Handwriting characteristics in patients with overt autoimmune hypothyroidism: a prospective case–control study

Article

Apr 2020

PurposePrevious studies have demonstrated handwriting changes in patients with overt hyperthyroidism due to Graves’ disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate handwriting features in patients affected by overt autoimmune hypothyroidism.Methods Thirty subjects – 24 females and 6 males, mean and median age of 50.15 ± 16.8 years and 52.5 years, respectively – with overt hypothyroidism (OH) related to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (Group 1), and 30 age- and sex-matched euthyroid individuals (Group 2) were recruited to write a “standard text”. Group 1 patients repeated the text once the euthyroid state was reached on L-T4 substitution therapy. Group 2 subjects wrote the text again 1 to 4 weeks thereafter. The letters underwent a detailed analysis by a handwriting expert, through inspection, a stereoscopic microscope and a magnifying glass. Furthermore, the time that both Groups took to go through with the text was clocked.ResultsNone of the handwriting variables differed significantly within each Group and between the two Groups. Hypothyroid patients took significantly more time to go through with the text compared to the time taken once they became euthyroid (3.29 ± 1.66 vs 2.63 ± 1.55 minutes, respectively) and the time taken by the control group (p < 0.01). Of note, three Group 1 patients missed to copy some words or even whole sentences on the paper while they were overtly hypothyroid.Conclusions The present study demonstrates that handwriting speed is able to disclose the impact of thyroid hormone deficiency on the central nervous system's functions. In particular, the longer time taken to go through with the text and the sentences missed by some hypothyroid patients, are the counterpart of psychomotor slowdown, impaired attention and memory loss peculiar to OH.

Writing Skills, Knowledge, Motivation, and Strategic Behavior Predict Students’ Persuasive Writing Performance in the Context of Robust Writing Instruction

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2019

This study tested whether writing skills, knowledge, motivation, and strategic behaviors (within the context of robust writing instruction) each made a statistically unique contribution to predicting fifth-grade students’ (123 girls, 104 boys) composition quality and length on a persuasive writing task involving source material, after variance due to other predictors and control variables (reading comprehension, gender, class, and school effects) were controlled. With one exception, writing skills, knowledge, motivation, and strategic behaviors each accounted for statistically unique variance in predicting compositional quality. The exception involved writing knowledge, which did not make a unique contribution in the fall but did in the spring, when a topic knowledge measure was added. In addition, writing motivation, and strategic behaviors accounted for unique variance in composition length in the fall, and writing knowledge did so in the spring.

Unpacking pathways using the direct and indirect effects model of writing (DIEW) and the contributions of higher order cognitive skills to writing

Article

Full-text available

May 2019
READ WRIT

We examined the Direct and Indirect Effects model of Writing (DIEW), using longitudinal data from Korean-speaking beginning writers. DIEW posits hierarchical structural relations among component skills (e.g., transcription skills, higher order cognitive skills, oral language, motivation/affect, background knowledge) where lower level skills are needed for higher order skills and where component skills make direct and indirect contributions to writing (see Fig. 1). A total of 201 Korean-speaking children were assessed on component skills in Grade 1, including transcription (spelling and handwriting fluency), higher order cognitive skills (inference, perspective taking, and monitoring), oral language (vocabulary and grammatical knowledge), and executive function (working memory and attention). Their writing skills were assessed in Grades 1 and 3. DIEW fit the data well. In Grade 1, transcription skills were directly related to writing, whereas vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, working memory, and attention were indirectly related to writing. For Grade 3 writing, inference and spelling were directly related while working memory made both direct and indirect contributions. Attention, vocabulary, and grammatical knowledge made indirect contributions via spelling and inference. These results support DIEW and its associated hypotheses such as the hierarchical nature of structural relations, the roles of higher order cognitive skills, and the changing relations of component skills to writing as a function of development (a developmental hypothesis).Fig. 1Direct and indirect effects model of writing (DIEW) Direct and indirect effects model of writing (DIEW)

WHAT MOTIVATES TAX COMPLIANCE?

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2018

James Alm

In this paper, I review and assess what we have learned about what motivates individuals to pay – or to not pay – their legally due tax liabilities. I focus on three specific questions. First, what does theory say about what motivates tax compliance? Second, what does the evidence show? Third, how can government use these insights to improve compliance? I conclude with some suggestions – and some predictions – for future research.

A Meta-Analysis on the Relation Between Reading and Working Memory

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2017

The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between reading and working memory (WM) in the context of three major theories: the domain-specificity theory (debate) of WM, the intrinsic cognitive load theory, and the dual process theory. A meta-analysis of 197 studies with 2026 effect sizes found a significant moderate correlation between reading and WM, r = .29, 95% CI [.27, .31]. Moderation analyses indicated that after controlling for publication type, bilingual status, domains of WM, and grade level, the relation between WM and reading was not affected by types of reading. The effects of WM domains were associated with grade level: before 4th grade, different domains of WM were related to reading to a similar degree, whereas verbal WM showed the strongest relations with reading at or beyond 4th grade. Further, the effect of WM on reading comprehension was partialled out when decoding and vocabulary were controlled for. Taken together, the findings are generally compatible with aspects of the domain-specificity theory of WM and the dual process theory, but, importantly, add a developmental component that is not currently reflected in models of the relation between reading and WM. The findings suggest that the domain-general central executive of WM is implicated in early reading acquisition, and verbal WM is more strongly implicated in later reading performance as readers gain more experience with reading. The implications of these findings for reading instruction and WM training are also discussed.

Syntactic Recursion Facilitates and Working Memory Predicts Recursive Theory of Mind

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2017
PLOS ONE

In this study, we focus on the possible roles of second-order syntactic recursion and working memory in terms of simple and complex span tasks in the development of second-order false belief reasoning. We tested 89 Turkish children in two age groups, one younger (4;6–6;5 years) and one older (6;7–8;10 years). Although second-order syntactic recursion is significantly correlated with the second-order false belief task, results of ordinal logistic regressions revealed that the main predictor of second-order false belief reasoning is complex working memory span. Unlike simple working memory and second-order syntactic recursion tasks, the complex working memory task required processing information serially with additional reasoning demands that require complex working memory strategies. Based on our results, we propose that children’s second-order theory of mind develops when they have efficient reasoning rules to process embedded beliefs serially, thus overcoming a possible serial processing bottleneck.

Categorical and dimensional definitions and evaluations of symptoms of ADHD: History of the SNAP and SWAN rating scales

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2004

An earlier version of this article was originally submitted for publication in early 2000 to introduce a new dimensional of concept of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) provided by the Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD-symptoms and Normal-behavior (SWAN) rating scale. The SWAN was developed to correct some obvious deficiencies of the Swanson, Nolan and Pelham (SNAP) rating scale that was based on the categorical concept of ADHD. The first submission was not accepted for publication, so a draft of the article was posted on a website (www.ADHD.net). The SWAN scale was published as a table in a review article (Swanson et al, 2001) to make it available to those interested in this dimensional approach to assessment of ADHD. Despite its relative inaccessibility, the SWAN has been used in several genetic studies of ADHD (e.g., Hay, Bennett, Levy, Sergeant, & Swanson, 2005; Cornish et al, 2005) and has been translated into several languages for European studies of ADHD (e.g., Lubke et al, 2006; Polderman et al, 2010) and into Spanish for studies in the United States (e.g., Lakes, Swanson, & Riggs, 2011; Kudo et al., this issue). Recently, invitations to include the SWAN in the PhenX Toolkit (www.phenx.org) for genomic studies (Hamilton et al, 2011) and to describe thedimensional approach of the SWAN for discussion of diagnostic (Swanson, Wigal, & Lakes, 2009) and ethical (Swanson, Wigal, Lakes, &Volkow, 2011) issues has convinced us that the unpublished article is still relevant after more than a decade, so it is presented here with some minor updates. We use examples (a) to document some consequences (e.g., over-identification of extreme cases) of using statistical cutoffs based on the assumption for a distribution of SNAP ratings that is highly skewed and (b) to show how the SWAN corrects the skewness of the SNAP by rewording the items on the scale and using a wider range of rating alternatives, which corrects the tendency to over-identify extreme cases.

Children’s inference generation: The role of vocabulary and working memory

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2015
J EXP CHILD PSYCHOL

Inferences are crucial to successful discourse comprehension. We assessed the contributions of vocabulary and working memory to inference making in children aged 5 and 6years (n=44), 7 and 8years (n=43), and 9 and 10years (n=43). Children listened to short narratives and answered questions to assess local and global coherence inferences after each one. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed developmental improvements on both types of inference. Although standardized measures of both vocabulary and working memory were correlated with inference making, multiple regression analyses determined that vocabulary was the key predictor. For local coherence inferences, only vocabulary predicted unique variance for the 6- and 8-year-olds; in contrast, none of the variables predicted performance for the 10-year-olds. For global coherence inferences, vocabulary was the only unique predictor for each age group. Mediation analysis confirmed that although working memory was associated with the ability to generate local and global coherence inferences in 6- to 10-year-olds, the effect was mediated by vocabulary. We conclude that vocabulary knowledge supports inference making in two ways: through knowledge of word meanings required to generate inferences and through its contribution to memory processes. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Relationship of Discourse and Topic Knowledge to Fifth Graders’ Writing Performance.

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2014
J EDUC PSYCHOL

This study examined whether discourse and topic knowledge separately predicted the overall quality and the inclusion of basic genre elements in 5th grade students' stories, persuasive papers, and informational text once the other type of knowledge as well as topic interest, spelling, handwriting fluency, length of text, and gender were controlled. Fifty students (25 girls, 25 boys) wrote a story, persuasive paper, and informative text about outer space. In addition, students' discourse knowledge, knowledge about the writing topic, interest in the topic, and handwriting fluency were measured. Discourse knowledge made a unique and statistically significant contribution to the prediction of the quality and inclusion of genre-specific elements in story, persuasive, and informational writing beyond topic knowledge and 5 control variables (i.e., gender, topic interest, handwriting fluency, spelling accuracy, and text length). Topic knowledge also predicted story, persuasive, and informational writing quality beyond discourse knowledge and the 5 control variables. Further, topic knowledge predicted the inclusion of genre-specific elements in informational text. These findings supported the proposition that discourse and topic knowledge are important ingredients in children's writing and provided support for the architecture of the knowledge-telling model (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987).

Theory of Mind Development in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: The Growing Complexity of Recursive Thinking Ability

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2015

This study explores the development of theory of mind, operationalized as recursive thinking ability, from adolescence to early adulthood ( N = 110; young adolescents = 47; adolescents = 43; young adults = 20). The construct of theory of mind has been operationalized in two different ways: as the ability to recognize the correct mental state of a character, and as the ability to attribute the correct mental state in order to predict the character’s behaviour. The Imposing Memory Task, with five recursive thinking levels, and a third-order false-belief task with three recursive thinking levels (devised for this study) have been used. The relationship among working memory, executive functions, and linguistic skills are also analysed. Results show that subjects exhibit less understanding of elevated recursive thinking levels (third, fourth, and fifth) compared to the first and second levels. Working memory is correlated with total recursive thinking, whereas performance on the linguistic comprehension task is related to third level recursive thinking in both theory of mind tasks. An effect of age on third-order false-belief task performance was also found. A key finding of the present study is that the third-order false-belief task shows significant age differences in the application of recursive thinking that involves the prediction of others’ behaviour. In contrast, such an age effect is not observed in the Imposing Memory Task. These results may support the extension of the investigation of the third order false belief after childhood.

Toward an Understanding of Dimensions, Predictors, and the Gender Gap in Written Composition

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2015
J EDUC PSYCHOL

We had three aims in the present study: (1) to examine the dimensionality of various evaluative approaches to scoring writing samples (e.g., quality, productivity, and curriculum based writing [CBM]) , (2) to investigate unique language and cognitive predictors of the identified dimensions, and (3) to examine gender gap in the identified dimensions of writing. These questions were addressed using data from second and third grade students (N = 494). Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel modeling. Results showed that writing quality, productivity, and CBM scoring were dissociable constructs, but that writing quality and CBM scoring were highly related (r = .82). Language and cognitive predictors differed among the writing outcomes. Boys had lower writing scores than girls even after accounting for language, reading, attention, spelling, handwriting automaticity, and rapid automatized naming. Results are discussed in light of writing evaluation and a developmental model of writing.

Language and Cognitive Predictors of Text Comprehension: Evidence From Multivariate Analysis

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2014
CHILD DEV

Young-Suk Kim

Using data from children in South Korea (N = 145, Mage = 6.08), it was determined how low-level language and cognitive skills (vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and working memory) and high-level cognitive skills (comprehension monitoring and theory of mind [ToM]) are related to listening comprehension and whether listening comprehension and word reading mediate the relations of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension. Low-level skills predicted comprehension monitoring and ToM, which in turn predicted listening comprehension. Vocabulary and syntactic knowledge were also directly related to listening comprehension, whereas working memory was indirectly related via comprehension monitoring and ToM. Listening comprehension and word reading completely mediated the relations of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension.

The relations of proper character introduction to narrative quality and listening comprehension for young children from high poverty schools

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2014

The present study explored the types and frequency of literate language features in children’s narratives, and the relation of literate language and proper character introduction to children’s oral language skills in a sample of 184 prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade students from high-poverty schools. Using hierarchical regression, the results showed that literate language features were not predictive of listening comprehension or narrative quality outcomes. In contrast, children’s skill in properly introducing characters significantly accounted for variance in all outcome measures (narrative comprehension, narrative quality, and listening comprehension) above and beyond the control variables (age, total number of words, and mean length of utterance) and literate language features (adverbs, conjunctions, mental and linguistic verbs, and elaborated noun phrases). These results indicate that the child’s retell and language comprehension skills may develop concurrently with proper character introduction.

Inference generation, story comprehension, and language in the preschool years

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2013

Several researchers have shown that children’s ability to make inferences is related to their reading comprehension. The majority of research on this topic has been conducted on older children. However, given the recent focus on the importance of narrative comprehension in prereaders, the current study examined the relationship between inference making and story comprehension in 4- to 5-yearolds. We examined children’s online inferences while narrating a wordless book as well as children’s story comprehension of a different storybook. We found that children’s total number of inferences was significantly related to their story comprehension. Three types of inferences were significantly related to story comprehension— characters goals, actions that achieved those goals, and character states. In a hierarchical regression controlling for children’s age and expressive vocabulary, a composite of these three inference types significantly predicted children’s story comprehension.

Qualitative Reading Inventory-II (QRI-II)

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1995

Based on current research in reading, this book presents an informal reading inventory designed to assess reading ability at emergent through junior high levels. It includes narrative and expository passages at each level, questions to assess prior knowledge, and word lists. It focuses assessment on specific questions regarding word identification, fluency, and comprehension, and recommends procedures for assessment of strategic reading and inclusion of results in a classroom portfolio. Sections of the book are: (1) Introduction to the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II; (2) Why Another Informal Reading Inventory? A Research Perspective; (3) A General Description of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II; (4) Information Provided by the Qualitative Reading Inventory--II including finding reading levels and determining reader strengths and needs; (5) Uses of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: The Examiner as a Reflective Decision Maker; (6) Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: Preparation for Testing; (7) Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: The Word Lists; (8) Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: Assessment of Prior Knowledge; (9) Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: The Passages; (10) Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: Word Identification in Context: Oral Reading including reading, counting, and analyzing oral reading miscues; (11) Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: Comprehension; (12) Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II: Assessing Strategic Reading; (13) Summarizing the Results of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II; (14) Examples of Using the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II; (15) Test Materials which include six levels of reading passages plus junior high passages; and (16) Technical Development of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-II. Contains 123 references. (RS)

Role of mechanics in composing of elementary school students: A new methodological approach

Article

Full-text available

Mar 1997

The authors used multiple-group structural equation modeling to analyze structural relationships between latent factors underlying separate measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing in Grades 1–6. For compositional fluency, the paths from both handwriting and spelling were significant in the primary grades, but only the path from handwriting was significant in the intermediate grades. For compositional quality, only the path from handwriting was significant at the primary and intermediate grades. The contribution of spelling to compositional quality was indirect through its correlation with handwriting. Handwriting and spelling accounted for a sizable proportion of the variance in compositional fluency (41% to 66%) and compositional quality (25% to 42%). These findings show that the mechanical skills of writing may exert constraints on amount and quality of composing. Theoretical and educational implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Contribution of spelling instruction to the spelling, writing, and reading of poor spellers

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2002

The contribution of supplemental spelling instruction to spelling, writing, and reading was examined. Second-grade children experiencing difficulties learning to spell participated in 48 20-min sessions designed to improve their spelling skills. In comparison with peers in a contact control condition receiving mathematics instruction, students in the spelling condition made greater improvements on norm-referenced spelling measures, a writing-fluency test, and a reading word-attack measure following instruction. Six months later, students in the spelling treatment maintained their advantage in spelling but not on the writing-fluency and reading word-attack measures. However, spelling instruction had a positive effect at maintenance on the reading word-recognition skills of children who scored lowest on this measure at pretest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Children's inference generation across media

Article

Full-text available

May 2008
J RES READ

In the present study, we investigated the degree to which children's inference generation ability generalises across different media and predicts narrative comprehension over and above basic language skills and vocabulary. To address both aims, we followed two cohorts of children aged 4 and 6 as they turned 6 and 8 years old, respectively. At each time point we assessed their inference and narrative comprehension skills using aural, televised and written stories. We also assessed their basic language skills and vocabulary. The findings demonstrated that children's inference generation skills were highly inter-related across different media for both cohorts and at both time points. Also, children's inference generation had a significant contribution to children's narrative comprehension over and above basic language skills, vocabulary and media factors. The current set of findings has important theoretical and practical implications for early diagnosis and intervention in young children's high-order comprehension skills.

Children's Reading Comprehension Ability: Concurrent Prediction by Working Memory, Verbal Ability, and Component Skills

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2004

The authors report data from a longitudinal study that addresses the relations between working memory capacity and reading comprehension skills in children aged 8, 9, and 11 years. At each time point, the authors assessed children's reading ability, vocabulary and verbal skills, performance on 2 working memory assessments (sentence-span and digit working memory), and component skills of comprehension. At each time point, working memory and component skills of comprehension (inference making, comprehension monitoring, story structure knowledge) predicted unique variance in reading comprehension after word reading ability and vocabulary and verbal ability controls. Further analyses revealed that the relations between reading comprehension and both inference making and comprehension monitoring were not wholly mediated by working memory. Rather, these component skills explained their own unique variance in reading comprehension.

Modeling the development of written language

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2011
READ WRIT

Alternative models of the structure of individual and developmental differences of written composition and handwriting fluency were tested using confirmatory factor analysis of writing samples provided by first- and fourth-grade students. For both groups, a five-factor model provided the best fit to the data. Four of the factors represented aspects of written composition: macro-organization (use of top sentence and number and ordering of ideas), productivity (number and diversity of words used), complexity (mean length of T-unit and syntactic density), and spelling and punctuation. The fifth factor represented handwriting fluency. Handwriting fluency was correlated with written composition factors at both grades. The magnitude of developmental differences between first grade and fourth grade expressed as effect sizes varied for variables representing the five constructs: large effect sizes were found for productivity and handwriting fluency variables; moderate effect sizes were found for complexity and macro-organization variables; and minimal effect sizes were found for spelling and punctuation variables.

Training writing skills: A cognitive development perspective

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2008
JoWR

Ronald T. Kellogg

Writing skills typically develop over a course of more than two decades as a child matures and learns the craft of composition through late adolescence and into early adulthood. The novice writer progresses from a stage of knowledge-telling to a stage of knowledgetransforming characteristic of adult writers. Professional writers advance further to an expert stage of knowledge-crafting in which representations of the author's planned content, the text itself, and the prospective reader's interpretation of the text are routinely manipulated in working memory. Knowledge-transforming, and especially knowledge-crafting, arguably occur only when sufficient executive attention is available to provide a high degree of cognitive control over the maintenance of multiple representations of the text as well as planning conceptual content, generating text, and reviewing content and text. Because executive attention is limited in capacity, such control depends on reducing the working memory demands of these writing processes through maturation and learning. It is suggested that students might best learn writing skills through cognitive apprenticeship training programs that emphasize deliberate practice.

Executive Functions in Elementary School Children With and Without Problems in Written Expression

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2002

This study examined the executive functioning of 55 elementary school children with and without problems in written expression. Two groups reflecting children with and without significant writing problems were defined by an average primary trait rating across two separate narratives. The groups did not differ in terms of chronological age, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, special education status, or presence of attention problems or receptive vocabulary capabilities; however, they did differ in reading decoding ability, and this variable was controlled for in all analyses. Dependent measures included tasks tapping an array of executive functions grouped conceptually in accordance with a model of executive functioning reflecting the following domains: initiate, sustain, set shifting, and inhibition/stopping. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) procedures revealed statistically significant group differences on the initiation and set shift domains, with the sustaining domain approaching significance. Children with writing problems performed more poorly in each of these domains, although the effect sizes were small. A multiple regression that employed these four factors and the reading decoding variable to predict the primary trait score from the written narratives revealed a statistically significant regression function; however, reading decoding contributed most of the unique variance to the writing outcome. These findings point out the importance of executive functions in the written language process for elementary school students, but highlight the need to examine other variables when studying elementary school-age children with written expression problems.

The Psychology of Written Composition

Book

Nov 2013

The subject of this book is the mental activities that go into composing written texts. For brevity we will often refer to the subject simply as writing, but the term should not be taken too literally. In this book we are not concerned with the physical act of writing, except insofar as it influences other processes. The mental activities of writing considered in our research are the same kinds of higher mental processes that figure in cognitive research on all aspects of human intelligence. They include goal setting, planning, memory search, problem solving, evaluation, and diagnosis. Writing is, of course, easily recognized as an activity in which a good deal of human intelligence is put to use. Its neglect, until very recently, by cognitive scientists is, however, easy to understand. Cognitive research has been gradually working its way from well-defined to ill-defined problems, from tasks that draw on limited knowledge to tasks that draw on large bodies of knowledge, and from tasks that are easily constrained experimentally to ones that are more susceptible to intentions of the participants. On all of these counts, writing lies far out on the yet-to-be-reached end of the continuum. © 1987 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Expanding the Developmental Models of Writing: A Direct and Indirect Effects Model of Developmental Writing (DIEW)

Article

May 2016

We investigated direct and indirect effects of component skills on writing (DIEW) using data from 193 children in Grade 1. In this model, working memory was hypothesized to be a foundational cognitive ability for language and cognitive skills as well as transcription skills, which, in turn, contribute to writing. Foundational oral language skills (vocabulary and grammatical knowledge) and higher-order cognitive skills (inference and theory of mind) were hypothesized to be component skills of text generation (i.e., discourse-level oral language). Results from structural equation modeling largely supported a complete mediation model among 4 variations of the DIEW model. Discourse-level oral language, spelling, and handwriting fluency completely mediated the relations of higher-order cognitive skills, foundational oral language, and working memory to writing. Moreover, language and cognitive skills had both direct and indirect relations to discourse-level oral language. Total effects, including direct and indirect effects, were substantial for discourse-level oral language (.46), working memory (.43), and spelling (.37); followed by vocabulary (.19), handwriting (.17), theory of mind (.12), inference (.10), and grammatical knowledge (.10). The model explained approximately 67% of variance in writing quality. These results indicate that multiple language and cognitive skills make direct and indirect contributions, and it is important to consider both direct and indirect pathways of influences when considering skills that are important to writing.

The relationship between attention and working memory

Article

Jan 2008

D. Fougnie

Implications of advancements in brain research and technology for writing development, writing instruction, and educational evolution

Article

Jan 2006

The effects of available information on responses to school writing tasks

Article

Jan 1984
RES TEACH ENGL

J.A. Langer

Direct and mediated effects of language and cognitive skills on comprehension of oral narrative texts (listening comprehension) for children

Article

Sep 2015
J EXP CHILD PSYCHOL

Young-Suk Kim

We investigated component language and cognitive skills of oral language comprehension of narrative texts (i.e., listening comprehension). Using the construction-integration model of text comprehension as an overarching theoretical framework, we examined direct and mediated relations of foundational cognitive skills (working memory and attention), foundational language skills (vocabulary and grammatical knowledge), and higher-order cognitive skills (inference, theory of mind, and comprehension monitoring) to listening comprehension. A total of 201 first grade children in South Korea participated in the study. Structural equation modeling results showed that listening comprehension is directly predicted by working memory, grammatical knowledge, inference, and theory of mind and is indirectly predicted by attention, vocabulary, and comprehension monitoring. The total effects were .46 for working memory, .07 for attention, .30 for vocabulary, .49 for grammatical knowledge, .31 for inference, .52 for theory of mind, and .18 for comprehension monitoring. These results suggest that multiple language and cognitive skills make contributions to listening comprehension, and their contributions are both direct and indirect. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Correlates of Listening Comprehension

Article

Mar 2014
READ RES QUART

In an effort to understand cognitive foundations of oral language comprehension (i.e., listening comprehension), we examined how inhibitory control, theory of mind, and comprehension monitoring are uniquely related to listening comprehension over and above vocabulary and age. A total of 156 children in kindergarten and first grade from high-poverty schools participated in the study. Using structural equation modeling, results showed that all three cognitive skills (inhibitory control, theory of mind, and comprehension monitoring) were positively related to listening comprehension after accounting for vocabulary and age. In addition, inhibitory control had a direct relation to listening comprehension, not indirectly via theory of mind. Results are discussed in light of cognitive component skills for listening comprehension.

Working memory and language comprehension: A meta-analysis

Article

Dec 1996
PSYCHON B REV

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the data from 6,179 participants in 77 studies that investigated the association between working-memory capacity and language comprehension ability. A primary goal of the meta-analysis was to compare the predictive power of the measures of working memory developed by Daneman and Carpenter (1980) with the predictive power of other measures of working memory. The results of the meta-analysis support Daneman and Carpenter's (1980) claim that measures that tap the combined processing and storage capacity of working memory (e.g., reading span, listening span) are better predictors of comprehension than are measures that tap only the storage capacity (e.g., word span, digit span). The meta-analysis also showed that math process plus storage measures of working memory are good predictors of comprehension. Thus, the superior predictive power of the process plus storage measures is not limited to measures that involve the manipulation of words and sentences.

Woodcock-Johnson-III Tests of Achievement

Article

Jan 2001

The Role of Inference Making and Other Language Skills in the Development of Narrative Listening Comprehension in 4-6-Year-Old Children

Article

Jul 2012

In this two-year longitudinal study, we sought to examine the developmental relationships among early narrative listening comprehension and language skills (i.e., vocabulary knowledge, sentence memory, and phonological awareness) and the roles of these factors in predicting narrative listening comprehension at the age of 6 years. We also sought to examine the role of inference-making skills as longitudinal and concurrent predictors of other language skills and listening comprehension from the age of 4 to 6 years. One hundred thirty Finnish-speaking children participated in the study. A theoretical model of the developmental relationships among the variables was proposed and the associations were analyzed by means of path analysis. Results showed that inference skills, assessed through picture-book viewing, made a significant and unique contribution to variation in later narrative listening comprehension. Inference skills also played an indirect role in narrative listening comprehension by making a significant contribution to vocabulary knowledge even after controlling for earlier vocabulary knowledge and sentence memory. Although vocabulary knowledge and sentence memory were related to concurrent narrative listening comprehension, they did not predict later listening comprehension over and above the autoregressor. The results are discussed in terms of the predictive validity and diagnostic sensitivity of inference skills assessments in listening comprehension. Implications for research and theory are also discussed.

Acquisition of Literacy. A Longitudinal Study of Children in First and Second Grade

Article

Aug 1986

Tested a model of early literacy acquisition regarding the interrelation of word recognition, spelling, reading comprehension, and writing skills, using longitudinal data collected from 80 children who passed from 1st through 2nd grades. Incoming characteristics (i.e., ethnicity, IQ, oral language) and the rate at which each S progressed through his or her reading books were examined in relation to growth in phonemic awareness, spelling/sound knowledge, and lexical knowledge. The impact of these factors on development in word recognition and spelling was explored, along with the relation of word recognition and listening comprehension to reading comprehension, and the relation of spelling and ideation to story writing. It was hypothesized that poor reading achievement in minority students would be partially attributable to poorer phonemic awareness of school English due to dialect, 2nd language, and cultural differences. Results support the hypothesis, suggesting the strong importance of phonemic awareness in literacy acquisition. The relation between word recognition and spelling was strong due to reliance on similar sources of knowledge. The relation between reading comprehension and writing appeared less strong, suggesting that the generation of ideas involved in story production is not isomorphic to the processes involved in reading comprehension. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Children's effective use of multiple standards for evaluating their comprehension

Article

Aug 1984

Linda Baker

Two experiments examined children's ability to apply 3 different standards for evaluating their understanding. 71 5-, 7-, 9-, and 11-yr-olds were presented with short narrative passages within which were embedded 3 types of problems (nonsense words, internal inconsistencies, and prior knowledge violations), each of which could only be identified if a specific standard of evaluation were used (lexical, internal consistency, and external consistency, respectively). Ss were explicitly instructed in advance that their task was to find the "mistakes." Moreover, Ss were given immediate feedback after each trial and a 2nd opportunity to find any missed problems. Although older Ss used all 3 standards more effectively than younger Ss, problem identification was considerably better than that reported in noninstructed settings. The internal consistency standard was applied least effectively, but even the youngest Ss were able to use it. Results illustrate the need to consider comprehension-monitoring skills with respect to specific standards of evaluation, rather than as a unitary phenomenon. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Structural Equation Models with Non-Normal Variables: Problems and Remedies

Article

Jan 1995

given that real data often fail to satisfy the underlying scaling and normality assumptions, there has been growing interest in determining the robustness of structural equation modeling techniques to violations of scaling the normality assumptions and in developing alternative remedial strategies when these assumptions are seriously violated / these topics are the focus of the present chapter overview of normal theory estimation / effects and detection of nonnormality / remedies for multivariate nonnormality (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Knowledge, Interest, and Narrative Writing

Article

Mar 1995

One-hundred-six 9th graders and 203 undergraduates wrote a story about baseball for 25 min and then completed a 39-item multiple-choice test of baseball topic knowledge. Students also answered 6 questions about their individual interest in baseball. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that knowledge and interest tests measured different constructs. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed Grade × Interest and Gender × Interest interactions on thematic maturity. Differences favoring undergraduates at low levels of interest disappeared at higher levels of interest, and differences favoring male students at low levels of interest disappeared at higher levels of interest. Topic knowledge predicted thematic maturity and was a better predictor of the interestingness of students' written texts than was individual interest. Implications for the assignment of student writing topics are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Meta‐Analysis of Theory‐of‐Mind Development: The Truth about False Belief

Article

May 2001
CHILD DEV

Research on theory of mind increasingly encompasses apparently contradictory findings. In particular, in initial studies, older preschoolers consistently passed false-belief tasks — a so-called “definitive” test of mental-state understanding — whereas younger children systematically erred. More recent studies, however, have found evidence of false-belief understanding in 3-year-olds or have demonstrated conditions that improve children's performance. A meta-analysis was conducted (N= 178 separate studies) to address the empirical inconsistencies and theoretical controversies. When organized into a systematic set of factors that vary across studies, false-belief results cluster systematically with the exception of only a few outliers. A combined model that included age, country of origin, and four task factors (e.g., whether the task objects were transformed in order to deceive the protagonist or not) yielded a multiple R of .74 and an R2 of .55; thus, the model accounts for 55% of the variance in false-belief performance. Moreover, false-belief performance showed a consistent developmental pattern, even across various countries and various task manipulations: preschoolers went from below-chance performance to above-chance performance. The findings are inconsistent with early competence proposals that claim that developmental changes are due to tasks artifacts, and thus disappear in simpler, revised false-belief tasks; and are, instead, consistent with theoretical accounts that propose that understanding of belief, and, relatedly, understanding of mind, exhibit genuine conceptual change in the preschool years.

Student- and instruction-level predictors of narrative writing in third-grade students

Article

Feb 2007

Natalie Olinghouse

This study examined the student-level and instruction-level predictors of narrative writing fluency and quality. Participants included 120 third-grade students from 13 classrooms. Student predictors included measures of reading, handwriting, spelling, IQ, grammatical understanding, and gender. Instructional predictors focused on the amount of time allocated to teaching basic writing skills and planning skills. Significant predictors of compositional fluency included gender, advanced planning ability, and handwriting fluency, while significant predictors of compositional quality included gender, compositional fluency, Full-scale IQ, word reading ability, and grammatical understanding. There were no main effects of instructional variables; however there were two student by instruction interactions. Implications of the study highlight the importance of student characteristics in writing achievement, as well as considering the need for differential instruction based on student needs.

A process model of writing development across the life span

Article

Sep 1996

In this article, we provide an overview of writing development from a product perspective and from a process perspective. Then we discuss modifications of the most influential process model of skilled adult writing to explain beginning and developing writing, including a proposed developmental sequence of the emergence of cognitive processes in writing. Next we report the results of two recent dissertations by the second and third authors supervised by the first author aimed toward contrasting developmental issues: (a) specifying the algorithms or rules of thumb beginning and developing writers may use during on-line planning; and (b) investigating the further development of writing processes among skilled adult writers. In the first study, development was conceptualized as a linear process across age groups. In the second study, development was conceptualized as a horizontal process within skilled adult writers who expanded their expertise. Finally, we consider the developmental constraints and the instructional constraints on writing development and argue for a model of writing development in which endogenous and exogenous process variables interact to determine the outcome of the writing development process.

Lower-level Developmental Skills in Beginning Writing

Article

Sep 1992

A battery of predictor measures (neuromotor, orthographic, visual-motor integration, syllable and phoneme segmentation, word finding, sentence syntax, reading, and verbal intelligence) and of writing criterion measures (handwriting, spelling, and composition) was administered to an equal number of girls and boys in the first, second, and third grades (N=30) to study the developmental skills children bring to the task of learning to write. This developmental approach is an important complement to the prevailing process and product approaches to writing research. Multiple regression and canonical correlation results supported thehypothesis that lower-level developmental variables are related to beginning writing skills. Rapid, automatic production of alphabet letters, rapid coding of orthographic information, and speed of sequential finger movement were the best predictors of handwriting and composition skills. Orthographic-phonological mappings and visual-motor integration were the best predictors of spelling. Canonical correlation analysis identified anorthographic-linguistic dimension and anautomaticity dimension in the battery of developmental skills and of writing products. Results also supported the hypothesis that the translation component in process models of writing has two separable sub-components — text generation and transcription. Lower-level developmental skills are thought to constrain the transcription sub-component.

Domain knowledge and linguistic knowledge in the development of writing ability* 1

Article

Aug 1986

Deborah Mccutchen

This article presents a psycholinguistic analysis of the development of writing skill and reports a developmental study of knowledge effects in writing. A theoretical framework decomposes the requisite knowledge into three main components: (1) generalized, high-level problem-solving plans; (2) a Content component, and (3) a Discourse component. The Content component includes domain knowledge pertinent to the writer's topic, and the Discourse component includes knowledge about text and linguistic structures. The focus of the study is the interaction of the Content and Discourse components. Psycholinguistic analyses of 240 elementary school texts revealed differences related to the age of the writer, as well as to knowledge of topic. These differences are accounted for in terms of processing interactions between schema instantiation and linguistic skills from the Discourse component and the relevant knowledge base from the Content component.

How language relates to belief, desire, and emotion understanding

Article

Apr 2003
COGNITIVE DEV

Two experiments examined syntax and semantics as correlates of theory-of-mind (ToM). In Experiment 1 children’s language was examined at 3 years of age in relation to ToM at 3, 3.5, 4, and 5.5 years. Semantics predicted unique variance in later belief understanding but not desire understanding. Syntax did not explain unique variance in belief or desire. In Experiment 2 two measures of syntax and a measure of semantics were used with 65 3–5-year-olds. The syntax measures tested children’s understanding of word order and embedded clauses. They were related to false belief, but contrary to some predictions, were also related to emotion recognition. Performance on language control tasks with low syntactic demands correlated equally well with false belief. In both experiments performance on the syntax and semantics tasks was highly inter-correlated. We argue that ToM is related to general language ability rather than syntax or semantics per se.

Effects of topic knowledge on the allocation of processing time and cognitive effort to writing processes

Article

Jun 1987

Ronald T. Kellogg

Conditions of low and high knowledge about the topic of a writing task were compared in terms of the time and cognitive effort allocated to writing processes. These processes were planning ideas, translating ideas into text, and reviewing ideas and text during document composition. Directed retrospection provided estimates of the time devoted to each process, and secondary task reaction times indexed the cognitive effort expended. Topic knowledge was manipulated by selecting subjects in Experiment 1 and by selecting topics in Experiment 2. The retrospection results indicated that both low- and high-knowledge writers intermixed planning, translating, and reviewing during all phases of composing. There was no evidence that low- and high-knowledge writers adopt different strategies for allocating processing time. About 50% of writing time was devoted to translating throughout composition. From early to later phases of composing, the percentage of time devoted to planning decreased and that devoted to reviewing increased. The secondary task results showed that the degree of cognitive effort devoted to planning, translating, and reviewing depended on the task. Also, the high-knowledge writers expended less effort overall than did the low-knowledge writers; there was no difference in allocation strategy across planning, translating, and reviewing.

Finding Your Marbles: Does Preschoolers’ Strategic Behavior Predict Later Understanding of Mind?

Article

Dec 1998

Claire Hughes

The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess (a) stability of individual differences in preschoolers' executive function performance, (b) the external validity of 4 new simple executive function tasks, and (c) whether individual differences in early executive function performance could be used to predict later differences in theory of mind, or vice versa. Fifty children involved in an earlier study of relations between preschoolers' theory of mind, verbal ability, and executive function (C. Hughes, 1998) were followed up and tested 1 year later, using 1st- and 2nd-order false-belief tasks, a set of 4 simple executive function tasks, and a well-established executive test of planning: the Tower of London (T. Shallice, 1982). The results of the study support recent proposals (C. Hughes, 1996; J. Russell, 1996) that young children's understanding of mind is grounded in their growing competence in strategic planning and mental flexibility.

General Language Performance Measures in Spoken and Written Narrative and Expository Discourse of School-Age Children With Language Learning Disabilities

Article

May 2000

Language performance in naturalistic contexts can be characterized by general measures of productivity, fluency, lexical diversity, and grammatical complexity and accuracy. The use of such measures as indices of language impairment in older children is open to questions of method and interpretation. This study evaluated the extent to which 10 general language performance measures (GLPM) differentiated school-age children with language learning disabilities (LLD) from chronological-age (CA) and language-age (LA) peers. Children produced both spoken and written summaries of two educational videotapes that provided models of either narrative or expository (informational) discourse. Productivity measures, including total T-units, total words, and words per minute, were significantly lower for children with LLD than for CA children. Fluency (percent T-units with mazes) and lexical diversity (number of different words) measures were similar for all children. Grammatical complexity as measured by words per T-unit was significantly lower for LLD children. However, there was no difference among groups for clauses per T-unit. The only measure that distinguished children with LLD from both CA and LA peers was the extent of grammatical error. Effects of discourse genre and modality were consistent across groups. Compared to narratives, expository summaries were shorter, less fluent (spoken versions), more complex (words per T-unit), and more error prone. Written summaries were shorter and had more errors than spoken versions. For many LLD and LA children, expository writing was exceedingly difficult. Implications for accounts of language impairment in older children are discussed.

Developmental consequences of poor phonological short-term memory function in childhood: A longitudinal study

Article

Jul 2005

A longitudinal study investigated the cognitive skills and scholastic attainments at 8 years of age of children selected on the basis of poor phonological loop skills at 5 years. Children with low and average performance at 5 years were tested three years later on measures of working memory, phonological awareness, vocabulary, language, reading, and number skill. Two subgroups of children with poor early performance on phonological memory tests were identified. In one subgroup, the poor phonological memory skills persisted at 8 years. These children performed at comparable levels to the control group on measures of vocabulary, language and mathematics. They scored more poorly on literacy assessments, but this deficit was associated with group differences in complex memory span and phonological awareness performance. The second subgroup of children performed more highly on phonological memory tests at 8 years, but had enduring deficits in language assessments from 4 to 8 years. Persistently poor phonological memory skills do not appear to significantly constrain the acquisition of language, mathematics or number skills over the early school years. More general working memory skills do, however, appear to be crucial.

Theory of Mind and Executive Function: Working-Memory Capacity and Inhibitory Control as Predictors of False-Belief Task Performance

Article

Jul 2006

This study of the relationship between theory of mind and executive function examined whether on the false-belief task age differences between 3 and 5 ears of age are related to development of working-memory capacity and inhibitory processes. 72 children completed tasks measuring false belief, working memory, and inhibition. Significant age effects were observed for false-belief and working-memory performance, as well as for the false-alarm and perseveration measures of inhibition. A simultaneous multiple linear regression specified the contribution of age, inhibition, and working memory to the prediction of false-belief performance. This model was significant, explaining a total of 36% of the variance. To examine the independent contributions of the working-memory and inhibition variables, after controlling for age, two hierarchical multiple linear regressions were conducted. These multiple regression analyses indicate that working memory and inhibition make small, overlapping contributions to false-belief performance after accounting for age, but that working memory, as measured in this study, is a somewhat better predictor of false-belief understanding than is inhibition.

Test of narrative language

Jan 2004

R B Gillam
N A Pearson

Gillam, R. B., & Pearson, N. A. (2004). Test of narrative language. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.

Wechsler individual achievement test

Jan 2009

D. Wechsler

Handbook of writing research

Jan 2006
96-114

V. W. Berninger
W. D. Winn

Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues and applications

Jan 1995
56-75

S. G. West
J. F. Finch
P. J. Curran

Structural relations of language and cognitive skills, and topic knowledge to written composition: A test of the direct and indirect effects model of writing

Abstract

No full-text available

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