We used a single case concurrent multiple probe across participants design to evaluate the effects of a multi-component intervention package on the number of correct sentences used when writing about a story for three rural elementary students with intellectual or developmental disabilities and extensive support needs. The package was comprised of…

This article uses a lens of procedural literacies to theorize youth practices of digital game-playing, modification, and creation as digital writing. The concept of procedurality describes the ways that videogames and other digital media are composed of systems of processes--computational or otherwise, which define these artifacts in form,…

Composing is an essential part of literacy development in early childhood classrooms, and writing experiences are continually changing through advances in technology. Writing in a new language can be particularly challenging for emergent bilinguals as they navigate learning how to spell in English as part of the writing process. New pedagogical…

Formative assessment is a process that engages teachers and students in gathering, interpreting, and using evidence about what and how students are learning in order to facilitate further student learning during a short period of time. The process offers the potential to guide educator decisions about midstream adjustments to instruction that…

This article reports on a collaborative inquiry into the use of a researcher-designed digital tool for the support of writing instruction in elementary classrooms. The digital tool in question is an online collection of original writing samples produced by elementary children that was conceptualized as a resource for coaching new writers using…

The theme of this year was educate to liberate. A reminder to the literacy community that education, and literacy extend beyond the content and courses we teach. As Freire puts it, "Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people--they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are…

It is established that transcription skills (handwriting and spelling) constrain children's writing. Yet, little is known about the mechanism underlying this relationship. This study examined the mediating role of bursts and pauses on the link between transcription skills and writing fluency or text quality. For that, 174 second graders did the…

The aim of this action research was to investigate the effects of digital storytelling in improving the writing skills of third grade students enrolled in rural primary schools. The writing performances of the students were measured before and after the teaching procedures of digital storytelling. Then, the process of narrative writing with…

Left-handers comprise about 10% of the Australian population. In Australia and elsewhere, there has been a history of discrimination against left-handedness, expressed in a variety of ways. Although negative attitudes to left-handedness have become less common in recent times, researchers have not investigated the extent to which left-handedness…

Students with learning disabilities in writing often experience challenges with many or all of the components of creating text. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2012), 95% of 8th- and 12th-grade students with disabilities failed to score within the proficient range in writing. This multiple-baseline-across-participants…

The authors conducted a multiple-baseline study to investigate the effects of a computer-based graphic organizer (CBGO) with embedded self-regulated learning strategies on the quantity and quality of persuasive essay writing by students with high-incidence disabilities. Ten seventh- and eighth-grade students with learning disabilities, emotional…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of multimedia writing support software on the quality and quantity of writing productivity and self-perception for students who have mild to moderate developmental delays. Participants in this study included 22 special education students in grades kindergarten through 6. Methodology included a…

Elementary students find themselves engaged and learning at a digital writing camp. The authors find that such elementary students usually have limited access to technology at home and school, and posit that teachers should do all they can to give them more access to and experience in digital composing. Students were motivated and learned to use…

"Fable Writer" is an online reading, writing and research tool designed to facilitate synchronous, collaborative writing tool that enables learners to read and copy text and images from teacher-curated books and Web-based resources in the "Fable Reader" digital library. The "Fable Writer" project addressed two…

Literacy acquisition by using computers and computer tablets is rapidly gaining ground in Swedish classrooms. This article explores the hypothesis that computer-writing vitalizes the learning of literacy, in comparison with approaches using books and pencils. The results of two separate studies in two different settings where prewriting and…