A process model of writing development across the life span

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.

[1]  Suzanne Hidi,et al.  The comparison of oral and written productions in two discourse types , 1983 .

[2]  Virginia W. Berninger,et al.  Developmental skills related to writing and reading acquisition in the intermediate grades , 1994 .

[3]  Virginia W. Berninger,et al.  Integrating Low- and High-Level Skills in Instructional Protocols for Writing Disabilities , 1995 .

[4]  Joseph E. Zins,et al.  Report writing: Legislative, ethical, and professional challenges , 1983 .

[5]  R. Abbott,et al.  Structural equation modeling of relationships among developmental skills and writing skills in primary- and intermediate-grade writers. , 1993 .

[6]  E. Gibson,et al.  The Psychology of Reading , 1977 .

[7]  Virginia W. Berninger,et al.  Gender differences in orthographic, verbal, and compositional fluency: Implications for assessing writing disabilities in primary grade children , 1992 .

[8]  Charles A. MacArthur,et al.  Learning Disabled Students' Composing Under Three Methods of Text Production , 1987 .

[9]  Cheryl M. Yates,et al.  Lower-level developmental skills in beginning writing , 1992 .

[10]  Repairing the Message: Children's Monitoring and Revision Skills. , 1987 .

[11]  Charles A. MacArthur,et al.  Effects of a reciprocal peer revision strategy in special education classrooms. , 1991 .

[12]  S. Graham,et al.  A review of handwriting research: Progress and prospects from 1980 to 1994 , 1996 .

[13]  Charles A. Perfetti,et al.  Coherence and connectedness in the development of discourse production , 1982 .

[14]  Jill Fitzgerald,et al.  Research on Revision in Writing , 1987 .

[15]  Judith A. Langer.  Children Reading and Writing: Structures and Strategies , 1986 .

[16]  Charles A. MacArthur,et al.  Writing and Writing Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: Review of a Research Program , 1991 .

[17]  Donald H. Graves.  An Examination of the Writing Processes of Seven Year Old Children. , 1975 .

[18]  Virginia W. Berninger,et al.  Reading and Writing Acquisition , 1996 .

[19]  H. Werner.  Process and achievement—a basic problem of education and developmental psychology. , 1937 .

[20]  Steve Graham,et al.  Constructivism: Principles, Paradigms, and Integration , 1994 .

[21]  Virginia W. Berninger,et al.  INTRAINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEVELS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE , 1994 .

[22]  Charles A. Perfetti,et al.  Schooled Language Competence: Linguistic Abilities in Reading and Writing. , 1986 .

[23]  Contributions of Developmental Psychology to Understanding Revision: Implications for Consultation with Classroom Teachers. , 1993 .

[24]  L. Bloom,et al.  Language development and language disorders , 1979 .

[25]  Deborah McCutchen,et al.  Children's discourse skill: Form and modality requirements of schooled writing , 1987 .

[26]  J. Sattler.  Assessment of Children , 1992 .

[27]  George Hillocks,et al.  What Works in Teaching Composition: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Treatment Studies , 1984, American Journal of Education.

[28]  R. Abbott,et al.  Assessment of planning, translating, and revising in junior high writers , 1996 .

[29]  Donald H. Graves.  Writing Teachers and Children At Work , 1983 .

[30]  M. Scardamalia,et al.  The psychology of written composition , 1987 .

[31]  D. McCutchen.  Domain knowledge and linguistic knowledge in the development of writing ability , 1986 .

[32]  Virginia W. Berninger,et al.  Intraindividual differences in levels of language in intermediate grade writers: Implications for the translating process , 1994 .