The effect of language specific factors on early written composition: the role of spelling, oral language and text generation skills in a shallow orthography

Abstract

Spelling skills have been identified as one of the major barriers to written text production in young English writers. By contrast oral language skills and text generation have been found to be less influential in the texts produced by beginning writers. To date, our understanding of the role of spelling skills in transparent orthographies is limited. The current study addressed this gap by examining the contribution of spelling, oral language and text generation skills in written text production in Italian beginner writers. Eighty-three children aged 7-8 years participated in the study. Spelling, lexical retrieval, receptive grammar, and written sentence generation and reformulation skills were assessed and children were asked to write a text on a set topic. A factor analysis revealed that the children's written text production was captured by three factors: productivity, complexity and accuracy. In contrast to results from children learning to write in opaque orthographies, such as English, this study demonstrated that from the initial stages of writing receptive grammar and written sentence generation skills accounted for significant variance in measures of productivity, accuracy and complexity in Italian children's written text production. Spelling skills contributed to text accuracy and quality and explained more variance than receptive grammar in microstructural accuracy. By contrast, oral grammatical skills explained more variance in text quality than spelling. The current study demonstrates the differential impact of language systems, such as Italian, on written text production. Implications for assessment and instruction are outlined.

Going beyond children's single‐text comprehension: The role of fundamental and higher‐level skills in 4th graders’ multiple‐document comprehension

“…In the present work, we examined the ability to construct an intertext model and an integrated mental model by asking children to organize their mental representation around an argument schema expressed through a short essay. The latter is considered as a comprehensive measure and hybrid task; it requires an understanding of the information presented in documents and also the identification of an organizational structure to integrate information and the translation of ideas into written texts (Arfé, Dockrell, & De Bernardi, ; Hayes & Flower, ; Mateos & Solé, ). We chose to use this demanding and complex task because it requires knowledge transformation to a greater extent than other kinds of tasks (i.e., verification tasks) and seems to be a better measure of deep‐level understanding of multiple documents (Bråten, Anmarkrud, et al ., ).…”

The effects of genetic and environmental factors on writing development

“…Some of these factors might be tapping into similar cognitive processes, including advanced oral language skills and working memory. Both are mainly genetically influenced in middle school (Little et al, 2015; Hayiou-Thomas, Dale, & Plomin, 2012) and have been shown to be predictive of writing (Arfe, Dockrell, & De Bernardi, 2016). …”

“…However, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP; 2002, 2011; NAEP is the largest nationally representative assessment of what American students know and can do in various subjects) results show that only 28% of fourth graders and 27% of eighth graders perform at or above proficient level in writing. Concerns over low levels of writing achievement in elementary and middle school, together with evidence that children with writing disabilities are at greatly enhanced risk of difficulties in reading and math (Mayes & Calhoun, 2006; Sumner, Connelly, & Barnett, 2013), have motivated a large body of work to identify the sources of individual variability in writing (Abbott & Berninger, 1993; Arfe, Dockrell, & De Bernardi, 2016; Babayigit, 2014; Berninger et al, 1992, 2002; Graham, Berninger, Abbott, Abbott, & Whitaker, 1997; Graham, McKeown, Kiuhara, & Harris, 2012; Kim et al, 2011; Kim, Al Otaiba, Folsom, Greulich, & Puranik, 2014; Kim, Al Otaiba, Wanzek, & Gatlin, 2015; Kim, Park, & Park, 2013; Limpo & Alves, 2013; Olinghouse, 2008; Olinghouse, Graham, & Gillespie, 2015). One line of research that would further clarify variability in writing in elementary and middle school is investigating the etiological (genetic and environmental) factors associated with individual differences in writing.…”

“…There is abundant empirical evidence to support this. For example, oral language knowledge, including phonological, lexical, syntactic, and semantic knowledge (Arfe, Dockrell, & De Bernardi, 2016; Babayigit, 2014; Hooper et al, 2011; Kim, et al, 2014; Kim, et al, 2015; Kim & Schatschneider, 2017; McCarthy & Jarvis, 2007; McNamara, Crossley, & McCarthy, 2010), as well as control mechanisms (Altemeier, Abbott, & Berninger, 2008; Graham, Harris, & Olinghouse, 2007; Hayes, 2000; Hooper et al, 2011; Kim & Schatschneider, 2017; Limpo & Alves, 2013), and production processes (Abbott & Berninger, 1993; Arfe, Dockrell, & De Bernardi, 2016; Graham et al, 1997; Hayes, 2012; Kim & Schatschneider, 2017; Kim et al, 2013, 2015; Limpo & Alves, 2013) have been shown to contribute to writing. These cognitive resources are not fixed, but are assumed to be modifiable.…”

Competition Strategies during Writing in a Second Language: Age and Levels of Complexity

“…Motivation was more recently included as a variable in the equation of age x writing about the writing skills and the levels of achievement among different ages (Pajares 2003;Schwabe et al 2015). Spelling skills and oral grammar have been examined as the most influential previous skills for early writing of individuals characterized according to different age groups (Arfé et al 2016). Another perspective for the analysis of the age factor and its influence is the age of migration and its impact on L2 proficiency (Guven and Islam 2015).…”