Online management of text production from pictures:a comparison between fifth graders and undergraduate students

This study was designed to enhance our understanding of the online management of writing processes by two groups of writers with a different level of expertise, and to explore the impact of this online management on text quality. To this aim, fifth graders (mean age 10.5 years) and undergraduate students (mean age 22.6 years) were asked to compose a narrative from a visual source of images, while their handwriting activity and eye movements were recorded by means of Eye & Pen software and a digitizing tablet. Results showed that fifth graders and undergraduate students used different strategies to engage in high-level source-based text elaboration processes throughout their writing. The main differences concerned the density of source consultation during prewriting, on the one hand, and during pauses, on the other hand. Relationships between these characteristics of online management and text quality were minimal in fifth graders, while in undergraduate students they were more substantial as in the case of syntactic complexity. These findings suggest that with age, the online management of writing becomes more closely related to text quality. In line with a capacity view of writing, it is also concluded that the online management of writing processes of fifth graders is highly constrained by a lack of fluent text production skills which ultimately affects their text quality

Does audio‐visual binding as an integrative function of working memory influence the early stages of learning to write?

Working memory has been proposed to account for the differential rates in pro- gress young children make in writing. One crucial aspect of learning to write is the encoding (i.e., integration) and retrieval of the correct phoneme–grapheme pairings, known as binding. In addition to executive functions, binding is regarded as central to the concept of working memory. To test the developmental increase in binding ability and its comparative influence on writing, an experimental study assessed 5- and 6-year-olds’ accuracy in retaining and retrieving bound audio-visual information alongside measures of verbal and visual complex working memory span (i.e., cen- tral executive functions), and transcription skills (i.e., alphabet and spelling). Results demonstrated an age-related increase in the ability to bind, and that binding had sig- nificant associations with working memory and early writing ability, but once bind- ing and age were controlled for it was verbal working memory that made an inde- pendent contribution to individual differences in writing performance. Although the contribution this paper made was through an exploration and expansion of theoreti- cal ideas within writing research, it is likely to make an important practical contribu- tion to instruction in the future both at the level of transcription and text generation as writers develop those skills

Cognitive and linguistic factors in writing development

Contains fulltext : Proefschrift_DrijboomsE.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)RU Radboud Universiteit, 25 mei 2016Promotores : Verhoeven, L.T.W., Alamargot, D. Co-promotores : Groen, M.A., Leijten, M.202 p

De rol van executieve functies bij de ontwikkeling van schrijfvaardigheid [The role of executive functions in writing development]

Uit onderzoek blijkt dat executieve functies (EF) belangrijke voorspellers zijn van schoolprestaties. EF zijn neuropsychologische processen die de zelfregulatie van denken en gedrag ondersteunen. Ondanks de uitgebreide literatuur over de relatie tussen EF en schoolse prestaties in de hogere jaren van de basisschool, is de rol van EF bij schrijfvaardigheid nog nauwelijks empirisch bestudeerd. In deze longitudinale studie werd daarom onderzocht hoe EF bijdragen aan de ontwikkeling van schrijfvaardigheid in de bovenbouw van de basisschool. Op twee meetmomenten (in groep 6 en in groep 8) werd er aan leerlingen gevraagd om een verhaal te schrijven op basis van plaatjes. Bovendien werden in groep 6 ook de EF van deze leerlingen gemeten. Uit de resultaten bleek dat EF op een directe manier bijdragen aan de kwaliteit van de geschreven verhalen in groep 6. Daarnaast toonden de resultaten aan dat EF ook indirect gerelateerd zijn aan schrijfvaardigheid, doordat automatisering van handschrift de relatie tussen EF en de kwaliteit van de geschreven verhalen medieert. Bovendien bleken EF in groep 6 ook de basis te leggen voor de ontwikkeling van syntactische complexiteit van geschreven teksten tegen het einde van de basisschool in groep 8. De theoretische implicaties van deze resultaten worden besproken en vertaald naar praktische adviezen voor het schrijfonderwijs. English abstract: Executive functions (EF) refer to self-regulative processes that underlie goal-directed activities. While previous research has shown a strong relationship between EF and achievements in school, there is a paucity of empirical research that has examined how EF contribute to writing development in the upper elementary grades. This longitudinal study examined how EF predict development in narrative writing in these grades. Both in fourth and in sixth grade, children's writing skills were assessed using a narrative picture-elicitation task. In addition, in fourth grade a battery assessing transcription skills, language skills, and EF was administered. The results showed that in fourth grade, EF contributed directly to the quality of the written narrative, and indirectly, with handwriting fluency funtioning as a mediator. Furthermore, results revealed that EF in fourth grade predicted development of the syntactic complexity of the written narratives between fourth and sixth grade. The theoretical and educational implications of these results are discussed

The dynamics of narrative writing in primary grade children: Writing process factors predict story quality

In this study of third grade school children, we investigated the association between writing process measures recorded with key stroke logging and the final written product. Moreover, we examined the cognitive predictors of writing process and product measures. Analyses of key strokes showed that while most children spontaneously made local online revisions while writing, few revised previously written text. Children with good reading and spelling abilities made more online revisions than their peers. Two process factors, transcription fluency and online revision activity, contributed to explaining variance in narrative macrostructural quality and story length. As for cognitive predictors, spelling was the only factor that gave a unique contribution to explaining variance in writing process factors. Better spelling was associated with more revisions and faster transcription. The results show that developing writers’ ability to make online revisions in creative writing tasks is related to both the quality of the final written product and to individual literacy skills. More generally, the findings indicate that investigations of the dynamics of the writing process may provide insights into the factors that contribute to creative writing during early stages of literacy