This study investigates the ways in which first graders utilised a variety of semiotic resources when authoring nonfiction compositions during a nonfiction genre writing unit of study. Grounded in social semiotics and multimodality theories, the study uses a case study approach to explore the text, image and design resources used in students'…

Motivation impacts student academic performance. A performance task to directly assess writing motivation in young children is needed. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the validity of the Writing Challenge Task (WCT), a task-oriented assessment created to measure writing motivation with 106 kindergarten students in the rural…

Learning to write is a complex process involving linguistic, cognitive, and socio-emotional factors. From a developmental perspective, little research has explored the content of young children's writings in terms of specific cognitive skills such as Theory of Mind (TOM). This study explores how young children's writing may foster representations…

In science education, the improvement in students' ability to construct arguments at the primary school level has been reported. Although these studies have identified difficulties in arguments written by primary school students, they do not indicate areas that require improvement in teaching methods. This study aims to explore the possibility of…

This paper presents the adaptation of the POMAS classification of spelling errors (Silliman et al., Developmental Neuropsychology 29:93-123, 2006, Bahr et al., Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research 55:1587-1599, 2012; International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 18:73-91, 2015) to Polish orthography. We identified the…

Background: Phonological processing skills have been found to contribute to spelling development across different orthographies; however, less is known about the role of orthographic knowledge. This longitudinal study explores the contribution of phonological and orthographic knowledge to spelling development in a semi-transparent orthography…

Addressing academic integrity in the age of AI is essential to ensure honesty and student success. This Spotlight will help you learn about how educators nationwide are approaching AI in teaching and learning; review data investigating how many students are actually using AI to cheat; examine strategies teachers are using to fight AI cheating;…

This study aimed to determine the effect of mind mapping on story writing skills of the students. A pre-test, a post-test, and a semi-experimental research design were used in this study. The study group consisted of a total of 86 third-grade students; 33 students from the experimental group, 23 students from the control 1 group, and 30 students…

There's a lot to love about this newly expanded book in the Picture-Perfect Science series: You can combine STEM and reading through appealing lessons that are just right for your second-grade students. Also, reading comprehension strategies are embedded in all 12 of the ready-to-teach lessons, 11 of which are updated and one brand-new. The goal…

This qualitative case study explores how integrating multimodal writing opportunities in a second-grade dual language classroom opens up spaces for translanguaging practices in order to promote a more equitable and socially just access to biliteracy development for emergent bilinguals. A multimodal writing project that integrated writing and…

A sample of 1049 Norwegian teachers in grades 1-3 were surveyed about how they taught writing as well as their preparation and efficacy to do so. Although there was moderate variability in their response to survey items, most teachers provided students with a multi-faceted writing program. Teachers indicated students typically spent 20 min a day…

Machines have a long-demonstrated ability to find statistical relationships between qualities of texts and surface-level linguistic indicators of writing. More recently, unlocked by artificial intelligence, the potential of using machines to identify content-related writing trait criteria has been uncovered. This development is significant,…

The elementary grades provide a rich context for literacy and science learning. Reading, writing, and talk support students' conceptual understanding of and engagement with science. The authors provide theoretical and research evidence to support the teaching of five instructional strategies that can facilitate literacy and science learning in…

This document presents the proceedings of the 28th Annual Research Forum held June 27, 2024, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following eight action research papers: (1) College Athletics and the High School Athlete: Perspectives of High School Coaches (Michael Goehrig); (2) The Influence of Blogging on…

Drawing on data generated following the 2016 United States presidential election, in this article the author considers how a classroom makerspace made Black girls' literacies visible in new ways. During a six-week integrated humanities unit in a third-grade public school classroom in the Midwestern U.S., four Black girls used making to create a…