Assess and target discourse-level oral language and transcription skills to locate and address sources of writing difficulty¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Because the study found a complex array of potential sources of breakdown in writing development, the authors recommend that instruction and assessment focus on the two upper-level skills that directly support writing. Teachers should assess whether a child is weak in discourse-level oral language or transcription skills, or both, then conduct further assessment of component skills and provide targeted instruction based on the child's profile. As printed: 'discourse-level oral language and transcription skills should be assessed and targeted in instruction – children may be weak in discourse-level oral language or transcription skills, or in both.'

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Further assessments to identify sources of weakness in discourse-level oral language and/or transcription skills before targeted instruction

Constraints¶

• The authors call these preliminary yet important implications from a single Grade 1 study of writing quality

Target Learners¶

• Grade 1 beginning writers

Target Learning Goals¶

• Writing quality; discourse-level oral language; spelling and handwriting fluency

Affordances¶

• Diew Direct Indirect Effects Model Of Developmental Writing

Claims¶

• Discourse-level oral language, spelling, and handwriting fluency completely mediate the relations of language and cognitive skills to writing quality in Grade 1 [+W]
• Total effects on writing quality are largest for discourse-level oral language (.46), working memory (.43), and spelling (.37) [+W]
• Working memory is a foundational cognitive skill for language and transcription skills, but its relation to writing is primarily mediated by other component skills [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Kim Young-Suk Grace, Schatschneider Christopher. (2017). Expanding the developmental models of writing: A direct and indirect effects model of developmental writing (DIEW). Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000129