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This study examined preschool teachers' writing knowledge and how this knowledge relates to classroom writing practices. Head Start teachers (N = 47) across two states participated by completing a knowledge questionnaire in which they responded to three vignettes and samples of preschool children's writing. Teachers' writing practices were gathered and coded from half-day video observations. Questionnaire responses were iteratively coded, first, using a set of a priori developed codes, derived from well-established theories of writing and including subcomponents of writing: handwriting, spelling, composing, and print concepts. Then responses were open-coded using an iterative process. Responses to the vignettes revealed that teachers' knowledge of early writing development generally aligns with research-based conceptualizations for handwriting and print concepts, but less so for spelling and composing. Teachers varied widely in the components they discussed, with clear patterns across the three writing samples. Observations of teachers' practices revealed that teachers primarily enacted practices focused on children's handwriting skills and engaged in scaffolding strategies designed to make writing easier for children more frequently than modeling or expansion strategies. Most instructional strategies were considered low quality as teachers were observed doing much of the cognitive or physical work of writing. Teachers' knowledge and practices were related. Teachers demonstrating higher knowledge complexity (i.e., discussed more writing components in their responses) engaged children in more writing and offered higher quality supports reflecting a wider range of writing components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how kindergarten teachers teach writing and their beliefs about writing instruction using survey methodology. Participants in this study included 78 kindergarten teachers in the United States. Results revealed that most kindergarten teachers used a balanced approach to writing instruction, combining instructional procedures from two common methods for teaching writing: skills instruction and process writing. The majority of kindergarten teachers devoted considerable time to writing instruction (36 min a day) and student writing (24 min a day) and used most of the instructional practices included in the survey to teach writing. These positive findings must be tempered by other issues involving classroom writing practices. This included concerns that teaching foundational skills was overemphasized with little attention devoted to teaching writing strategies and process. Writing tasks involved writing without composing and limited extended writing. The use of technology for writing and writing instruction was absent. Further, motivation for writing and extending writing to the home were largely ignored. Most participating teachers expressed positive beliefs about writing, their effectiveness in teaching writing and their capabilities as writers themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until children can produce letters quickly and accurately, it is assumed that handwriting disrupts and limits the quality of their text. This investigation is the largest study to date (2596 girls, 2354 boys) assessing the association between handwriting fluency and writing quality. We tested whether handwriting fluency made a statistically unique contribution to predicting primary grade students' writing quality on a functional writing task, after variance due to attitude towards writing, students' language background (L1, L2, bilingual), gender, grade, and nesting due to class and school were first controlled. Handwriting fluency accounted for a statistically significant 7.4% of the variance in the writing quality of primary grade students. In addition, attitude towards writing, language background, grade and gender each uniquely predicted writing quality. Finally, handwriting fluency increased from one grade to the next, girls had faster handwriting than boys, and gender differences increased across grades. An identical pattern of results were observed for writing quality. Directions for future research and writing practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing is essential for communication in literate societies, and its successful acquisition and development is central to academic achievement. Beginning in early childhood, preschool-age children gradually develop componential skills within the domains of handwriting, spelling, and composing that ultimately enable them to translate thoughts and ideas into printed words to convey a message. Previous research has largely focused on teachers' practices in the general classroom context. In this study, we applied a fine-grained approach to examine preschool teachers' instructional practices for supporting children's early writing skills in a dyadic (i.e., one-on-one) context. The key aims were: (1) to describe teachers' supportive strategies for handwriting, spelling, and composing within a dyadic writing task; and (2) to determine whether teachers' supportive strategies varied according to the domain of writing they addressed. We asked thirty teacher–child dyads to complete a picture description writing task, and used a researcher-developed coding scheme to document teachers' supportive strategies. Descriptive analyses revealed that teachers frequently used directives, modeling, and closed-ended requests, and that there was wide variation in teachers' supportive strategies for writing, Moreover, teachers' instruction primarily focused on spelling and composing, and less so on handwriting. Accordingly, our findings help to complement and extend the extant literature regarding teachers' writing practices by providing a detailed description of teachers' strategies to facilitate children's writing and demonstrating the ways in which these strategies vary within a dyadic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-eight fourth-through sixth-grade teachers (28 female; 10 male) in urban schools in Chile were interviewed to determine how teachers' preparation to teach writing and their knowledge of how to do so acted as facilitators and/or barriers to classroom writing instruction. Teachers overwhelmingly identified their preservice preparation as a barrier to teaching writing, although several teachers viewed this mode of preparation as a facilitator. For teachers who expressed views about in-service and personal preparation as well as teaching experience, they almost unanimously indicated such modes of preparation facilitated classroom writing instruction. Teachers identified five forms of teaching knowledge that acted as facilitators and barriers to writing instruction. This included knowledge of how to differentiate writing instruction, assess writing, support the writing process, teach writing genres, and apply pedagogical teaching methods. A lack of instructional knowledge in each of these areas served as a barrier to classroom writing instruction, whereas knowledge about each acted as a facilitator. In addition, a lack of knowledge about how to teach fundamental writing skills acted as a barrier for some teachers. Implications and directions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing adequate writing instruction and practice in schools is an essential cornerstone of writing development and it affords a diagnostic approach for teachers. But what writing instruction is being practiced in Australian primary schools? The aim of this study was to survey a sample of teachers (n = 310) about their instructional practices for writing and their preparation and self-efficacy to teach writing. The majority of the teachers surveyed indicated they allocated on average less than three hours per week for writing practice in their classrooms, with findings further showing a large variability in the frequency of writing practice ranging from 15 min to 7.5 h per week. Findings suggested an emphasis placed on teaching foundational skills, such as spelling, over the teaching of process skills, such as planning and revising. Results further indicated that less emphasis is placed on teaching handwriting and typing. The majority of participating teachers reported implementing only six of the 20 different instructional practices included in the survey on a weekly basis, with school-home strategies being the least frequently reported strategies to foster students' writing development. Most teachers expressed positive beliefs about their preparation and self-efficacy for teaching writing. Results from multiple regression analysis showed that preparation and self-efficacy for teaching writing significantly and statistically accounted for variability in using evidence-based practices, teaching foundational skills, and teaching process skills. However, only self-efficacy made a statically significant contribution to predicting strategies to extend writing to the home environment. Implications for teaching and recommendations for research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of Chinese university education, effective communication in the field of second language writing heavily relies on lexical complexity, yet the role of writing feedback perception in relation to lexical complexity remains elusive. This study introduces a comprehensive writing feedback perception model encompassing perceptions of teacher-, peer-, and automated written corrective (AWE) feedback, alongside two lexical complexity metrics—Uber and Lambda. By employing latent profile analysis, this research profiles Chinese university students based on their writing feedback perceptions and investigates the resultant lexical complexity variations. Analyzing data from 442 participants, three distinct profiles emerged: students demonstrating preference for feedback from all three agents (teachers, peers, and AWE); students with hold preferable perceptions of teacher and AWE feedback; and students exhibiting no preferable perceptions of feedback of any agents. The means of lexical complexity scores differed significantly across the three profiles. Retrodictive qualitative modeling further unveiled the interplay of feedback perceptions, positive AWE attitudes, and language proficiency in shaping lexical complexity. Remarkably, diverse directional influences emerged across the profiles. Our study underscores the intricate dynamics between writing feedback perception and lexical complexity, with implications for enhancing both teacher feedback literacy and students' feedback perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the effectiveness of a writing is caught approach with young developing writers in Norway. This method is based on the premise that writing competence is acquired naturally through real use in meaningful contexts. Our longitudinal randomized control trial study tested this proposition by examining if increasing first grade students' opportunities to write in various genres for different purposes and for a range of audiences over a two-year time period improved the quality of their writing, handwriting fluency, and attitude towards writing. The study included data from 942 students (50.1% girls) in 26 schools randomly assigned to the experimental treatment, and 743 students (50.6% girls) in 25 schools randomly assigned to the business-as-usual (BAU) control condition. Across Grades 1 and 2, experimental teachers were asked to supplement their typical writing instruction by implementing 40 writing activities designed to increase students' purposeful writing. Increasing experimental students' writing over the two-year period did not result in statistically detectable differences in the writing quality, handwriting fluency, and attitude towards writing of students in the experimental and BAU control conditions. These findings did not provide support for the effectiveness of the writing is caught approach. Implications for theory, research, and practiced are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating argument writing as a learning activity has been found to increase students' mathematics performance. However, teachers report receiving little to no preservice or inservice preparation to use writing to support students' learning. This is especially concerning for special education teachers who provide highly specialized mathematics instruction (i.e., Tier 3) to students with mathematics disabilities (MLD). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of teachers providing content-focused open-ended questioning strategies, which included both argument writing and foundational fraction content, using Practice-Based Professional Development (PBPD) and Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) for implementing a writing-to-learn strategy called FACT-R2C2. We report the relative number of higher-order mathematical content questions that teachers asked during instruction, from among three different-level question types: Level 1: yes/no questions focused on the mathematics content; Level 2: one-word responses focused on the mathematics content; and Level 3: higher-order open-ended responses centered around four mathematical practices from the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Within a well-controlled single-case multiple-baseline design, seven special education teachers were randomly assigned to each PBPD + FACT-R2C2 intervention tier. Results indicated that: (1) teachers' relative use of Level 3 questions increased following the introduction of the FACT intervention; (2) this increase was apart from the professional development training that the teachers had initially received; and (3) students' writing quality improved to some extent with the increase in teachers' relative use of Level 3 questions. Implications and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined if in-class, online, and hybrid (in-class and on-line) instruction provided to middle and high school students in the U.S. differed during the third school year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also provided a description of how writing was taught to secondary students. Thirty-eight middle and high school teachers (32 female, 6 male), who mostly taught languages arts (84%), were asked to complete a survey each day during the 2020/2021 school year for a single class that best represented how they taught writing. The survey included questions about mode of instruction (in-class at school, online, and hybrid), whether writing or writing instruction was provided that day, and if so, whether 11 specific writing activities occurred. Teachers completed 2676 surveys, and their responses indicated there was only one statistically detectable difference between in-class, online, and hybrid lessons in terms of the proportion of lessons that included each of the targeted writing activities or the time devoted to them. The only difference involved creating digital written products, which occurred more often in hybrid lessons than at school in-class lessons, but not more often in online lessons One significant finding across all reported lessons was that teachers devoted little time to teaching writing. Writing and writing instruction did not occur in close to one-third of all lessons; teachers typically included only one writing activity in a lesson; and an average of just 19 min a lesson was devoted to the targeted writing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's writing depends on strategic and self-regulated behaviors as well as on attention and transcription skills. Despite the well-established effectiveness of interventions based on the self-regulated strategy development model (SRSD), little is known about their effects when combined with the explicit teaching and systematic training of attention or transcription. This study compared the effects of SRSD interventions that taught students a planning strategy and how to use it compose text, with additional components of attention (via focused meditation exercises) or transcription (via copy and alphabet exercises). We used a quasi-experimental design with three groups of Portuguese third graders: SRSD + attention (n = 42), SRSD + transcription (n = 37), and wait list (n = 34). Measures of transcription, executive functions, motivation, written production, and academic achievement were collected before and after the interventions. Analyses of co-variance revealed that the SRSD + transcription group surpassed the others in terms of handwriting fluency as well as in terms of spelling accuracy, though only among the weakest spellers at pretest. Moreover, in comparison to the wait list group, both SRSD groups showed better planning skills, wrote more complete texts, and displayed better executive functioning at posttest. After the intervention, though the SRSD + transcription group produced better texts than their peers, the SRSD + attention group achieved better academic performance, but only among those with poorer grades at pretest. Regarding motivation, we only found an effect of the SRSD + transcription intervention on self-efficacy for ideation, among students with lower self-efficacy at pretest. These findings suggest the importance of articulating writing and self-regulation strategies with attention and transcription training in early schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mid-adolescence has been identified as a period of considerable potential growth in the language skills and practices that support reading and writing at school, but little research has examined mid-adolescents' use of connectives in school-relevant persuasive writing. In this study, we define connectives as cohesive devices that signal to a reader logical relations between ideas or organizational relations in a text. Drawing from Halliday and Matthiesen (Halliday's introduction to functional grammar, Routledge, 2014) and Hyland (Metadiscourse: exploring interaction in writing, Continuum, 2005), we propose a comprehensive taxonomy of connectives that guided our examination of developmental trends and individual differences in the use of connectives in persuasive essays written by a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse cross-sectional sample of U.S. public-school mid-adolescents in grades 5 to 8 (N = 512). Our analysis revealed (1) developmental trends and individual differences at different grade levels and (2) identified students' connective use as a predictor of overall writing quality above and beyond students' receptive language skills and sociodemographic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, students must demonstrate knowledge in mathematics through mathematics writing, yet research lags in understanding how students engage in mathematics-writing tasks. Most available research on mathematics writing focuses on typically achieving students without considering students with mathematics difficulty (MD). In this study, we explored how students with MD who participated in a word-problem intervention randomized-control trial performed on a mathematics-writing task. We sampled 144 third-grade students with MD and evaluated student performance on an explanatory mathematics-writing measure. Overall, students with MD, on a mathematics-writing rubric with five categories, scored between 1 and 2 points out of a possible 5 points for each category. For one of the five rubric categories, Mathematics Content, the students in the word-problem interventions marginally outperformed the students in the business-as-usual condition. On average, students wrote 33.3 words, numbers, and symbols in response to the mathematics-writing prompt with an average of 8.7 mathematics vocabulary words. Of the mathematics vocabulary words used, students most frequently used formal mathematics vocabulary and names for symbolic numbers, with symbolic symbols and general vocabulary used to a lesser extent. The trends in this study will support future research to enhance mathematics-writing instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textbooks are the primary materials for teaching in the Greater China Region, including the teaching of Chinese as a second language. This qualitative study examined how two teachers of first to fifth grade students in an international school in Macao selected, used, and adapted textbooks to teach Chinese to non-native Chinese speakers. It also examined the beliefs that drove teachers' decisions and actions. Multiple forms of evidence were analyzed, including responses to interview questions posed at multiple points, responses to a questionnaire administered at the beginning of the study, school documents, and content analyses of lessons in the selected textbook series and materials teachers made to accompany textbook lessons. The two teachers in this study made a conscious decision to continue using two textbook series selected by others and used the year before. The selection and use of these textbooks were underpinned by a set of interrelated beliefs, including their views on effective instruction (e.g., clearly presented topic, appealing and motivating materials, effective learning activities, focus on Chinese culture); their students' needs and motivations; their own teaching capabilities and attitudes; their epistemological beliefs about learning and knowledge; and the importance of local, national, and international standards and assessments. The two teachers devoted considerable effort to adapting the textbooks by developing their own materials that added, reduced, deleted, restructured, replaced, and re-ordered textbook learning activities. These adaptations were driven by specific teacher beliefs (e.g., the need for more meaning focused activities). Recommendations for future research and implications for teaching are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a Tier 2 intervention within the context of the Response to Intervention (RtI) model implemented by Spanish first- to second-grade primary school teachers to improve at-risk students' transcription skills. Teachers were instructed in the administration of a writing curriculum-based measure composed of 5 isolates measures (allographs, dictated words with arbitrary spelling or non-ruled, dictated words with rule-based spelling, dictated nonsense words, and dictated sentences) to identify at-risk students and to monitor their progress; and in the implementation of a systematic and explicit instructional program to improve transcription skills in at-risk students. A total of 164 at-risk students from 12 schools from the Canary Islands participated in the study. Teachers were provided with a support system that included a web-based training program for writing. Implementation fidelity was analyzed using direct observations and self-reports. All students were assessed three times during the academic year. In a hierarchical linear growth modeling procedure, differences in growth rates of transcription skills were compared between students who received the intervention, those who did not, and their typically achieving peers. Additionally, the effects of the intervention in the experimental at-risk group were also analyzed, differentiating between those who left the risk status and those who remained at-risk. Children at-risk in the intervention condition appeared to benefit more in handwriting skills than at-risk children in the control condition, but to a lesser extent in spelling accuracy. Nevertheless, improvements in both transcription skills had only been made in the experimental risk group that had left the risk situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing an argumentative synthesis is a common but demanding task, consequently undergraduates require some instruction. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of two interventions on integrative argumentation: one of them was focused on the product features of argumentative texts; and the other one on the processes involved in the written argumentation. Sixty-six undergraduate students participated voluntarily. As an academic task, they were asked to write a pre-test synthesis after reading two sources which presented contradictory positions about an educational issue, then to read two new texts about a different but equivalent issue, and write a post-test synthesis following one of two types of instructional virtual environments. The instructions, implemented in Moodle, presented similar tools, employing videos, graphic organizers, and exercises. The first condition (n = 33) focused on the linguistic features while the second (n = 33), focused on the process, including explicit instruction and a script with critical questions to guide the reading and writing processes. In this study we have also analyzed how the students in the process condition answered some of the critical questions. The results show that the level of integration of the written products improved in both conditions, although this improvement was more pronounced in the process intervention. Nonetheless, the products that achieved medium and maximum integration were still limited. Despite the lack of a relationship between how students answered the critical questions and the level of integration in their post-test, the case analysis highlights certain educational implications and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into discourse synthesis examines the ways in which writers make use of, and transform, multiple other texts in writing their own. It is intertextual research that has blurred boundaries of various kinds, not only the boundary between the processes of reading and writing but also boundaries across disciplines as well as regions of the world. Guided by a cognitive constructivist perspective, this research into discourse synthesis drew at its origin—and continues to draw now—from multidisciplinary theoretical and empirical work. This article, which establishes the foundations for this research and traces its development, attends to writers' transformations of multiple source texts resulting from operations of organizing, selecting, and connecting. Studies into synthesis writing for varying academic tasks have shown that, by applying these operations to multiple textual sources, writers produce discourses that function as new texts in new contexts. Following a discussion of historical background, attention in this article goes to three major issues: the variation in synthesis associated with different academic genres; the kinds of insights into product and process that come from different research approaches; and the nature of new instructional approaches that emphasize elements of discourse synthesis. All facets of this research reveal continuity as well as change, the latter occurring, in large part, through contact and convergence of discourse synthesis research with related bodies of work. The conclusion, which centers on the notion of transformation, summarizes research conducted thus far and points to future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ‘Snack writing’ is a term coined to describe regular short bursts of writing on a larger academic writing task. There is extensive research on academic writing, but research on ‘snack writing’ is limited. Moreover, the idea of ‘snack writing’ in an online environment is not evident in the literature. Objectives: The study objectives were: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of an online ‘snack writing’ group, and (2) to identify what might enable or constrain productive academic writing amongst group members. Method: A reflective evaluation approach was used, in which participant researchers studied online chat data over a 6-month period. The study was framed by Activity Theory, in which digitally connected writing is understood as a new mediational means within an academic writing system. Results: ‘Snack writing’ in a digital environment was found to be effective when the writing task was focused, appropriate to the time available, and connected to a larger writing task. Goal setting, debriefing, and reflecting kept writers focused, while seeing a writing task develop over time enhanced confidence. Including writers with different levels of experience was effective for developing and sharing writing practices. Conclusion: Regular participation in digitally connected ‘snack writing’ is effective as it builds a supportive writing culture. Contribution: The study contributes to an understanding of how short bursts of writing in a digitally connected space could benefit academic tasks. The findings are therefore of use to postgraduate scholars, academics, and all those who want to progress an academic writing task when time is limited.

Developing writing skills is a central part of the education curriculum in many countries, yet numerous children have difficulties in producing written texts. To our knowledge there is no systematic study examining the ways in which Greek teachers adapt their writing instruction strategies to accommodate the children's needs. The aim of the present study was to identify the approaches teachers employ while teaching writing in Greek primary schools and to examine the nature and frequency of these different aspects of teaching writing. We replicated and extended the Dockrell et al. (Read Writ Interdiscip J 29(3):409–434, 2016) study, using the Not so Simple View of Writing framework. One hundred and three teachers responded to an online questionnaire, which consisted of questions regarding their academic qualifications and their specific teaching practices. The majority of the sample felt prepared and enjoyed teaching writing. However, almost all of the teachers found teaching writing challenging and half of them reported that supporting struggling writers was difficult for them. Overall, teachers reported more work at word level, occurring almost weekly, than at text level. Differences between Grade levels they taught were also evident for specific domains of writing. Recommendations for future research and implications for educational practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' social and emotional development matters to their educational success. Ubiquitous digital use in schooling creates new contexts for development, raising the question of the nature of the relationships under these new conditions. Ratings of 9 to 13 year old students' (n = 296) social skills and self-regulation and their writing achievement were examined in schools with 1:1 devices and ubiquitous access and use of digital tools in school and out of school. After controlling for demographic and school level variables two significant relationships emerged. Higher ratings of inhibitory control and cognitive empathy were associated with higher achievement in writing. The former replicates previous research and the latter provides evidence for a specific relationship between writing and social skills. Both extend what has been found in other academic areas to writing and to wide spread digital usage in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence supports a link between handwriting and aspects of literacy, including both reading and writing. Most evidence, however, pertains to children from grade one and above, once foundation skills known to support emerging literacy have been established. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesise the extant literature concerning measurement of handwriting and literacy and the relationships between these measures for kindergarten students (the first year of formal instruction). Following a systematic search of the literature, 17 studies involving 3343 participants were identified. Handwriting measures could be grouped into two categories—letter writing fluency and perceptual motor skills, while literacy measures addressed one or more of letter name and sound knowledge, phonological skills, word reading, writing composition, and spelling. Strong evidence was found for the impact of letter writing fluency on writing composition, and letter name and sound knowledge. In addition, there was moderate evidence for a relationship between letter writing fluency, spelling, word reading and phonological skills. Weaker evidence was found for the impact of perceptual motor skill proficiency on letter knowledge and spelling, word reading and phonological skills. However, as all intervention approaches focusing on letter forming fluency included perceptual motor skill practice or exposure, an important role for perceptual motor skill in both letter writing fluency and literacy may be inferred. This review has found preliminary evidence to support the facilitating impact of handwriting on the foundations of literacy in kindergarten. Further research into the effects of handwriting interventions on kindergarten literacy is indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early failure to learn writing skills might go unnoticed and unremedied unless teachers adopt specific strategies for identifying and supporting students who learn at a slower pace. We implemented a Response to Intervention (RTI) program for teaching narrative writing. Over 18 months from start of primary school, 161 Spanish children received instruction in strategies for planning text and training in handwriting and spelling, and completed very regular narrative writing tasks. Data from these tasks were analysed to identify students at risk of falling behind. These students then completed additional, parent-supervised training tasks. During this training the quality of these students' texts improved more rapidly than those of their peers. The resulting decrease in difference relative to peers, as measured by both regular narrative tasks and by post and follow-up measures, was sustained after additional training ceased. Interviews and questionnaires found good parent and teacher buy-in, with some caveats. Findings therefore indicate the feasibility and potential value of a RTI approach to teaching writing in single-teacher, full-range, first-grade classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two types of historical problem-solving instruction with advanced urban high school students' (N = 231) ability to reason with and contextualize historical evidence. Contextualization is a critical heuristic in the process of disciplinary thinking among historians. Yet, prior research shows students face significant challenges when contextualizing information (Reisman and Wineburg in Soc Stud 99:202–207, 2008; van Boxtel and van Drie in Cognit Instr 30:113–145, 2012). Seven teachers who collectively taught 14 sections of social studies were randomly assigned to explicit instruction in sourcing, contextualization and corroboration (a) that emphasized the role of individual cognition or (b) the same explicit instruction plus small group and whole class discussion. Students were administered pretests on relevant content knowledge and a historical writing task. After a one-week intervention, students completed a parallel writing task and a second reasoning task that required short written responses. After controlling for teacher and pretest scores, the findings indicated that students who were taught the cognitive approach scored higher on historical writing (ES = 0.33). Further analysis revealed they included greater contextualized thinking (ES = 0.44) and use of evidence (ES = 0.32) in post-intervention essays; in contrast, sourcing scores were comparable. Students in both groups performed equally well on the second reasoning task. Findings highlight the importance of teaching writing explicitly as part of history instruction and the role of cognition to enhance learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In writing science summaries, student writers frequently borrow language fragments from source texts. While taking a text's ideas verbatim is commonly considered a failure in writers' expected use of their own words or even plagiarism, imitating "linguistic chunks" from skilled speakers is also an effective practice in language development. This study argues for the need to investigate textual borrowing (TB) from a developmental perspective. A total of 956 U.S. upper-elementary and middle school L1 students were administered a reading comprehension test, a written summary task, and a receptive academic language assessment. Multiple indices were generated to capture TB frequency, length, and one particular function of TB (i.e., definitions). Results revealed that 68% of summaries contained at least one incidence of TB. As expected, both TB frequency and length were negatively associated with reading comprehension and academic language skills. However, students in higher grades demonstrated significantly more and longer TB in comparison to their younger counterparts when summarizing the same passage. In addition, the frequency of borrowed word strings and the ratio of definitional borrowing were positively associated with summary writing quality, and the latter association was found to be stronger for students with higher academic language skills. Implications for pedagogy and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]