Higher order cognitive skills (inference, perspective taking, monitoring) are differentially related to writing quality, writing productivity, and correctness in writing in Grade 2¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2 · n=350
Currency · newest study 2022 · checked against its sources 2026-10-23 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Perspective taking and comprehension monitoring, but not inference, were uniquely related to writing quality after accounting for other predictors. → Kim & Graham 2022 q2 i? None of the higher order cognitive skills was uniquely related to writing productivity. → Kim & Graham 2022 q2 i? Comprehension monitoring was uniquely positively related to correctness in writing, whereas inference showed a suppression effect and perspective taking was not related. → Kim & Graham 2022

Evidence¶

Kim & Graham 2022¶

Kim, Y.-S. G., & Graham, S. (2022). Expanding the Direct and Indirect Effects Model of Writing (DIEW): Reading-writing relations, and dynamic relations as a function of measurement/dimensions of written composition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(2), 215–238. doi:10.1037/edu0000564

q2 · i? · n=350 · associational · r2

Three parallel structural equation models fitted to data from 350 Grade 2 children, each predicting one dimension of written composition from inference, perspective taking (theory of mind) and comprehension monitoring after controlling spelling, handwriting fluency, working memory and attention. The models are correlational and cannot show that these skills cause differences in writing. The text prints standardized path coefficients with p-values for the quality and correctness models (quoted below); for productivity it gives only the p-values, the coefficients being shown in Figure 3, which is not in the text. Each whole model's variance explained is printed (about 53%, 52% and 64% for quality, productivity and correctness), but that includes the control variables, so it is not a magnitude for the higher order skills; impact is coded i?.

• Writing quality: perspective taking and comprehension monitoring were uniquely related; inference was not.
• Writing productivity: none of the three higher order cognitive skills was uniquely related (the text gives only ps ≥ .28).
• Correctness in writing (correct minus incorrect word sequences): comprehension monitoring had a unique positive relation, inference a suppression effect, and perspective taking no relation.

"For writing quality (Figure 3a), perspective taking (.17, p = .02) and comprehension monitoring (.18, p = .01) were uniquely related, whereas inference (.03, p = .74) was not, after accounting for all other predictors in the model. For writing productivity (Figure 3b), none of the higher order cognitive skills was uniquely related (ps ≥ .28). For correctness in writing (Figure 3c), comprehension monitoring (.13, p = .01) had a unique, positive relation whereas inference had a suppression effect (−.12, p = .03), and perspective taking (.03, p = .47) was not related."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Metacognition — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Social Awareness and Relationship Skills — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Writing Skills — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Inference, but not theory of mind, is independently related to writing quality after accounting for transcription skills and working memory — related
• Higher order cognitive skills (inference, perspective taking, comprehension monitoring) fit a bifactor structure with a general cross-language factor and language-specific factors in English and Spanish — related