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"Writing ability"
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Adults with dyslexia: how can they achieve academic success despite impairments in basic reading and writing abilities? The role of text structure sensitivity as a compensatory skill
The aim of this study was to investigate (1) whether a sample of highly educated individuals with dyslexia living under optimal personal, educational, cultural, and socioeconomic conditions continues to display core deficits in reading and writing skills during adulthood (extending prior results in Dutch, English, Hebrew, and Spanish to the Portuguese writing system); (2) whether these individuals can compensate for the effects of persistent core deficits when reading complex academic texts; (3) which cognitive resources, such as reading strategies, are used as compensatory mechanisms; and (4) whether quality of life is affected in these individuals. These questions were examined in a sample of 28 adults with dyslexia (DG) and 28 control participants (CG) paired by sex, age, education, and occupation, with a mean of 15 years of formal education. Participants completed measures of phonological awareness; decoding of syllables, words, and pseudowords; writing; reading comprehension (inferential and literal questions, recall, and sensitivity to the rhetorical structure of the target text); and quality of life. Results showed that (1) core deficits associated with dyslexia persisted into adulthood: participants with dyslexia performed worse than control subjects at all levels of phonological awareness, reading (except word reading accuracy), and spelling; (2) the groups did not differ on any measures of reading comprehension, suggesting a compensation of core deficits; (3) three compensatory mechanisms were identified: slower reading, use of text structure, and verbal ability; (4) participants with dyslexia required more family support and professional help throughout their educational careers, and had more depressive symptoms than control subjects.
Journal Article
What it means to write : creativity and metaphor
\"Think outside the box. Have a breakthrough. Avoid writer's block. In a time when people are increasingly curious about how to stand out from the crowd, the word 'creativity' can seem over-used and vague. What is it, really? In What It Means to Write, Adrian McKerracher examines the creative person in us all. His search takes him from Vancouver to Havana to Buenos Aires, where his mantra--I'm here to meet writers--leads to poignant new insights into a life of letters. Through encounters with artists of all kinds, famous or pedestrian, McKerracher traces a socio-cultural history of the meaning of writing, each vignette a meditation on the way that metaphor limits and liberates understanding. Creativity is a process, a possession, a relation, an algorithm, a game, and more. But the result goes far beyond an archive of the figurative. Along the way, a labyrinth of chance reunites him with old friends, threatens him with violence, and teases the invitation to remain forever in a place that is both real and imagined. His journey from cafés to libraries to late night living rooms embodies the structure of a bold new methodology for interpreting the complexity of creativity, demonstrating the tools for working productively with ambiguity and rebuilding meaning, one metaphor at a time. Told in character-driven narrative pulses that reflect on the nature of belonging, understanding, and loving, What It Means To Write is a celebration of the possibilities of both language and silence.\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Interplay of Mindset, Feedback Perception, and Academic Emotion Regulation in Undergraduates’ Self-Regulated Writing Ability
This cross-sectional study investigated the interconnected roles of university students’ mindsets (growth and fixed), perceptions of writing feedback, and academic emotion regulation in shaping self-regulated writing ability. Data were collected from 313 undergraduate students in South Korea. A serial mediation analysis was conducted using the PROCESS macro (Model 6). The results indicated that the indirect effect of a growth mindset on self-regulated writing ability via writing feedback perception was B = 0.0883, 95% CI [0.0414, 0.1489] and that via academic emotion regulation was B = 0.0724, 95% CI [0.0256, 0.1316]. In addition, a significant sequential mediation effect was identified in both mediators—writing feedback perception and academic emotion regulation—(B = 0.0215, 95% CI [0.0044, 0.0435]). The total indirect effect was B = 0.1822, 95% CI [0.1069, 0.2686], supporting a robust mediating mechanism. These findings highlight the psychological and emotional pathways through which a growth mindset facilitates writing development. Implications for writing pedagogy include the integration of feedback literacy and emotion regulation training to support learners’ self-regulated writing in higher education contexts.
Journal Article
Mostly good girls
Sixteen-year-olds Violet and Katie, best friends since seventh grade despite differences in their family backgrounds and abilities, are pulled apart during their junior year at Massachusetts' exclusive Westfield School.
Book
Visuomotor integration and executive functioning are uniquely linked to Chinese word reading and writing in kindergarten children
This cross-sectional study examined the associations of visuomotor integration and executive functioning with Chinese word reading and writing in kindergarten children. A total of 369 Chinese children (mean age = 57.99 months; 55% of them were girls) from Hong Kong, China, completed tasks on visuomotor integration, executive functioning, and Chinese word reading and writing. Children also completed tasks on rapid automatized naming, and their mothers provided child and family background information. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, controlling for child age, gender, and rapid automatized naming and maternal education, both visuomotor integration and executive functioning were uniquely linked to Chinese word reading and writing. Findings highlighted the importance of visuomotor integration and executive functioning in understanding the development of Chinese word reading and writing in early years, and the utility of targeting visuomotor integration and executive functioning to help kindergarten children to learn to read and write in Chinese.
Journal Article
Investigating the Role of Word Knowledge Components in Chinese L2 Writing Ability
A body of research has looked into the nature of multiple-word knowledge components in recent years. However, the individual role of these components in L2 writing proficiency still remains unclear. The present study examined the interrelations between six-word knowledge components and explored the relationships between the lexical components and productive word use and L2 writing ability. The study adopted a multi-task approach using the word knowledge framework by Nation (2013, 2022) and the model of word knowledge components required in writing proposed by Coxhead (2007). Six measures, including one receptive word component (overall word size) and five productive depth knowledge components (productive form and meaning, association, productive derivation and collocation), were designed and validated to measure 147 Chinese EFL university learners' word knowledge relative to their word use and argumentative writing ability. The correlation and regression results demonstrated that derivative form production was the best predictor of word use and L2 writing ability. Its contribution was even stronger than productive form and meaning, though the latter two were also closely related to L2 writing and word use. Association and collocation predicted less variance yet still correlated with productive skills. However, the receptive size measured by the VLT had no correlations with L2 writing and lexical proficiency. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence for the theoretical word knowledge models and yields nuanced ideas regarding the smallest lexical predictors of L2 writing. Pedagogical implications for EFL vocabulary pedagogy are also discussed.
Journal Article
The Effects Of Collaborative Writing Activity Using Google Docs On Students' Writing Abilities
Google Docs, a free web-based version of Microsoft Word, offers collaborative features which can be used to facilitate collaborative writing in a foreign language classroom. The current study compared writing abilities of students who collaborated on writing assignments using Google Docs with those working in groups in a face-toface classroom. The experimental research was conducted with students enrolled in EN 012 course in the first semester of academic year of 2013. Both groups were assigned to complete four writing assignments using different working methods: one group worked together outside class with Google Docs, while the other worked together in class. The instruments employed in the study were writing tests and two questionnaires. Data were analyzed by using means, standard deviations, percentages, and independent samples t-tests. The results indicate that a significant difference was found between the two groups’ writing mean score after the experiment.
Journal Article
Validity of score interpretations on an online English placement writing test
A much-debated question in the L2 assessment field is if computer familiarity should be considered a potential source of construct-irrelevant variance in computer-based writing (CBW) tests. This study aims to make a partial validity argument for an online source-based writing test (OSWT) designed for English placement testing (EPT), focusing on the explanation inference. Score interpretations on the OWST are proposed and supporting evidence is sought in terms of test-takers’ self-confidence in and preferences for CBW tests (two interrelated aspects of computer familiarity) and L2 writing ability. Ninety-seven ESL students demonstrating two different levels (higher and lower levels) of L2 writing ability studying at a US university completed the OSWT and an online questionnaire asking about their attitudes towards CBW tests. A series of statistical and thematic analyses revealed that most of the test-takers held self-confidence in and preferences for CBW tests for reasons related to previous CBW experience (e.g., familiarity with CBW, useful tools/functions available on computers) regardless of L2 writing ability. The higher-level test-takers obtained significantly higher scores on the OSWT than their lower-level counterparts. Test-takers’ preferences were a significant predictor of the OSWT scores only in the higher-level group. The findings largely support the validity of proposed score interpretations on the OSWT. Implications are discussed in terms of test fairness and the construct of CBW tests.
Journal Article
A Comparative Study on the Washback Effects of Teacher Feedback plus Intelligent Feedback versus Teacher Feedback on English Writing Teaching in Higher Vocational College
For college students majoring in English, English writing is a relatively difficult project. How to effectively improve the English writing ability of students of English majors in vocational colleges is an important issue that every college teacher needs to pay attention to. As a teaching tool, the intelligent computer automated essay evaluation system can help students improve their English writing ability more objectively, efficiently and accurately. This paper employs the intelligent computer automated essay evaluation system as a teaching tool, taking college students as the research object, and carried out an 18-week online self-writing teaching experiment and traditional writing experiment. This paper conducts a comparative study on the washback effects of teacher feedback plus intelligent feedback versus teacher feedback on English writing teaching in higher vocational college, which provides a prominent research value and research significance for the reform and innovation of English writing teaching in higher vocational colleges.
Journal Article