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In Study 1, the treatment group ( N  = 33 first graders, M  = 6 years 10 months, 16 girls) received Slingerland multi-modal (auditory, visual, tactile, motor through hand, and motor through mouth) manuscript (unjoined) handwriting instruction embedded in systematic spelling, reading, and composing lessons; and the control group ( N  = 16 first graders, M  = 7 years 1 month, 7 girls) received manuscript handwriting instruction not systematically related to the other literacy activities. ANOVA showed both groups improved on automatic alphabet writing from memory; but ANCOVA with the automatic alphabet writing task as covariate showed that the treatment group improved significantly more than control group from the second to ninth month of first grade on dictated spelling and recognition of word-specific spellings among phonological foils. In Study 2 new groups received either a second year of manuscript ( N  = 29, M  = 7 years 8 months, 16 girls) or introduction to cursive (joined) instruction in second grade ( N  = 24, M  = 8 years 0 months, 11 girls) embedded in the Slingerland literacy program. ANCOVA with automatic alphabet writing as covariate showed that those who received a second year of manuscript handwriting instruction improved more on sustained handwriting over 30, 60, and 90 s than those who had had only 1 year of manuscript instruction; both groups improved in spelling and composing from the second to ninth month of second grade. Results are discussed in reference to mastering one handwriting format before introducing another format at a higher grade level and always embedding handwriting instruction in writing and reading instruction aimed at all levels of language.

The present study adopted the structural equation modeling approach to examine Chinese university students’ metacognition, critical thinking skills, and academic writing. In particular, this research explored whether awareness in metacognition can foster critical thinking and, thus, lead to enhancement in academic writing. The measure for exploring metacognitive writing strategies covered metacognitive knowledge and regulation in academic writing. The measure for understanding learners’ critical thinking encompassed the following five skills: inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretations, and evaluation of arguments. The academic writing assessment was based on an internal test. The participants consisted of 644 third-year students from a Chinese university. Three models tested: (1) the role of metacognition in academic writing; (2) the role of metacognition in critical thinking; and (3) correlations between metacognition, critical thinking skills, and academic writing. The results indicated significant relationships between the three variables, and the implications based on these findings were discussed.

While there are many ways to author text today, writing with paper and pen (or pencil) is still quite common at home and work, and predominates writing at school. Because handwriting can bias readers' judgments about the ideas in a text and impact other writing processes, like planning and text generation, it is important to ensure students develop legible and fluent handwriting. This meta-analysis examined true- and quasi-experimental intervention studies conducted with K-12 students to determine if teaching handwriting enhanced legibility and fluency and resulted in better writing performance. When compared to no instmction or non-handwriting instructional conditions, teaching handwriting resulted in statistically greater legibility (ES=0.59) and fluency (ES=0.63). Motor instmction did not produce better handwriting skills (ES=0.10 for legibility and −0.07 for fluency), but individualizing handwriting instmction (ES=0.69) and teaching handwriting via technology (ES= 0.85) resulted in statistically significant improvements in legibility. Finally, handwriting instmction produced statistically significant gains in the quality (ES=0.84), length (ES= 1.33), and fluency of students' writing (ES=0.48). The findings from this meta-analysis provide support for one of the assumptions underlying the Simple View of Writing (Berninger et al., Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 291–304, 2002): text transcription skills are an important ingredient in writing and writing development.

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).

We designed and investigated the first set of instructional procedures we are aware of to teach 4th and 5th grade students how to write a persuasive essay following close reading of a source text. Eight boys and girls attending a diverse, low income school who were having difficulty learning to write participated in an experimental multiple-baseline design study. Self-regulated strategy development instruction for close reading of informational text and writing to persuade was situated in the writing process and included discussion, modeling, explicit instruction, scaffolding, collaboration among peers and with teachers, self-regulation of the writing process and affect, and additional components and characteristics. Outcome measures included genre elements, holistic quality, number of words written, and complexity of plans for writing. All students showed meaningful gains on the writing outcomes, with the exception of length, which varied, as predicted. Limitations and directions for future research are considered.

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.

Researchers have argued that writing skills have significant implications for developing reading skills. A growing body of research has provided evidence that writing skills, in particular invented spelling, provide unique predictive information regarding future reading skills. This study examined which preschool early writing skills (i.e., name writing, letter writing, and invented spelling) had unique predictive relations with kindergarten and first-grade reading outcomes beyond the predictive contributions of preschool early literacy skills. A total of 252 preschool-age children (mean age = 58.62 months, SD = 3.60) were assessed on early literacy skills and early writing skills. Children completed measures of conventional reading skills in kindergarten and the first grade. Multi-level regression analyses were used to examine the degree to which early writing skills uniquely contributed to later reading outcomes. Results indicated that preschool children’s invented spelling contributed unique variance to later reading outcomes beyond the contributions of early literacy skills. The results of this study suggest that, in addition to measures of early literacy skills, measures of invented spelling may be useful in the early identification of children at risk of reading difficulties.

The objective for beginning writers is to learn how to generate alphabet-letters which are recognisable and easy to read. This study investigated the accuracy of Year 1 and 2 children’s alphabet-letter-writing by evaluating their alphabet and orthographic knowledge, following evidence which identifies these skills as important for correctly representing the Latin alphabet-letters in written form. 408 typical children from the first two years of formal schooling were recruited from eight Western Australian schools and asked to write the twenty-six-lowercase alphabet-letters under three different writing conditions: from memory; the initial sounds of words; and copying. Performance was measured using the Perceive, Recall, Plan and Perform (PRPP) System of Task Analysis (Stage One). Analyses revealed the mean average number of the 26- lowercase alphabet-letters correctly written from memory was 8.17 (Year 1) and 12.76 (Year 2). Mean averages were similar across the three writing conditions. Comparative analysis showed children in Year 2 were significantly better than Year 1 children at recalling the alphabet-sequence, sound-letter-translation, and retrieving the letter-shape, letter-case, and letter-orientation. No significant difference was found in name-to-letter translation, letter-formation, or letter-placement skills. The results highlighted that many typical Year 1 and 2 children have difficulty accurately generating all 26- lowercase alphabet-letters. The findings suggested that the way early writers learn to form and place an alphabet-letter, whether it is accurate or not, is how they continue to write the alphabet-letter through their early school journey. Considerations for evaluation and instruction of alphabet-letter-writing are discussed.

Researchers and educators use the term emergent literacy to refer to a broad set of skills and attitudes that serve as foundational skills for acquiring success in later reading and writing; however, models of emergent literacy have generally focused on reading and reading-related behaviors. Hence, the primary aim of this study was to articulate and evaluate a theoretical model of the components of emergent writing. Alternative models of the structure of individual and developmental differences of emergent writing and writing-related skills were examined in 372 preschool children who ranged in age from 3 to 5 years, using confirmatory factor analysis. Results from the analyses provide evidence that these emergent writing skills are best described by three correlated but distinct factors: (1) Conceptual Knowledge, (2) Procedural Knowledge, and (3) Generative Knowledge. Evidence that these three emergent writing factors show different patterns of relations to emergent literacy constructs is presented. Implications for understanding the development of writing and assessment of early writing skills are discussed.

In the present study, we examined the influence of kindergarten component skills on writing outcomes, both concurrently and longitudinally to first grade. Using data from 265 students, we investigated a model of writing development including attention regulation along with students’ reading, spelling, handwriting fluency, and oral language component skills. Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that a model including attention was better fitting than a model with only language and literacy factors. Attention, a higher-order literacy factor related to reading and spelling proficiency, and automaticity in letter-writing were uniquely and positively related to compositional fluency in kindergarten. Attention and higher-order literacy factor were predictive of both composition quality and fluency in first grade, while oral language showed unique relations with first grade writing quality. Implications for writing development and instruction are discussed.