Integrated writing assessments are tasks that require students to construct an essay using evidence from source texts. Topic models are statistical models used to analyze text. This study analyzes two integrated writing tasks from students in grades 6 (N=1,250) and 8 (N=1,250) using topic models. Independent evaluations of the essays were also…

Recent studies have shown that fluent reading of word lists requires additional skills beyond efficient recognition of individual words. This study examined the specific contribution of between-word processing (sequential processing efficiency, indexed by serial digit RAN) and subskills related to text-level processing (vocabulary and syntactic…

Digital tools are an integral part of most writing communities across the globe, enhancing the criticality of gaining a comprehensive understanding of both paper and computer-based writing acquisition and development. The relationships between transcription skills and children's paper-based writing performance are well documented. Less is known…

Motivational research identifies utility value, or the importance of a learning task to future goals, as central to motivation to learn. This study analyzed survey data (N=86) collected from adult literacy learners to examine their utility value of writing improvement in grammar and spelling skills, word processing skills, and planning, drafting,…

Motivational research identifies utility value, or the importance of a learning task to future goals, as central to motivation to learn. This study analyzed survey data (N = 86) collected from adult literacy learners to examine their utility value of writing improvement in grammar and spelling skills, word processing skills, and planning,…

The current study examined whether children with and without ADHD differed in text processing when contradictory information was present. Forty-seven children between 10 and 14 years old performed a self-paced reading task. Half the passages contained contradictory information. Additionally, language and cognitive skills were assessed to examine…

This study compares the effects of two resources, a paper rubric (CR) or the comment bubbles from a word processor (CCB), to support peer co-evaluation of expository texts in primary education. A total of 57 students wrote a text which, after a peer co-evaluation process, was rewritten. To analyze the improvements in the texts, we used a rubric…

Recent technology advances have enabled the collection of keystroke logs during writing, a non-intrusive approach to collecting writing process data that could provide insights into writers' editing and revising behaviors in the writing process. Using keystroke logs from 761 middle school students in the US, this study investigated the association…

A child's handwriting fluency may have implications on his or her quality of writing. The same may be true of typing fluency. The current study examines the effects of handwriting and typing practice on early elementary school children's transcriptional fluency and written product outcomes. Three classrooms of second-grade students were assessed…

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…

This guide helps families and caregivers carry out recommended practices described in the What Works Clearinghouse educator's practice guide, "Teaching Elementary School Students to be Effective Writers" (ED533112). It provides three tips for supporting writing skills at home: (1) Help children use the writing process for a variety of…

Writing is critical for college and career readiness, yet secondary students in America are not good writers (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). Unfortunately, researchers know relatively little about secondary students' writing skills, and even less about their digital writing. In this study, we explored prior computer use, keyboard…

Primary school holds an important place in the acquisition of writing skills. Writing attitudes and habits of teachers are influential in writing education provided by primary school teachers during this period. This study aims to examine the writing habits of primary school teachers. To this end, writing habits of teachers were investigated in…

This study evaluated a bilingual text-mining system, which incorporated a bilingual taxonomy of key words and provided hierarchical visualization, for understanding learner-generated text in the learning management systems through automatic identification and counting of matching key words. A class of 27 in-service teachers studied a course…

In an age when students are increasingly expected to demonstrate technology-based writing proficiency, fluency challenges with word processing programs can pose a barrier to successful writing when students are asked to compose using these tools. The current study was designed to determine whether differences existed in typing fluency and digital…