TY - JOUR

T1 - Dimensionality of early writing in English and Spanish

AU - Salas, Naymé

AU - Caravolas, Marketa

PY - 2019/9/1

Y1 - 2019/9/1

N2 - Writing development is understood to be a multidimensional task, heavily constrained by spelling in its early stages. However, most available evidence comes from studies with learners of the inconsistent English orthography, so our understanding of the nature of early writing could be highly biased. We explored writing dimensions in each language by assessing a series of text-based features in children’s texts between mid-Grade 1 to mid-Grade 2. Results revealed that two constructs, writing conventions and productivity, emerged in both languages, but the influence of orthographic consistency started to be evident in the later time points. Other constructs of text generation seemed to emerge later and were less stable over time. The article thus highlights the language-general underpinnings of early text-writing development and the impact of orthographic consistency; furthermore, it strengthens the view that some writing components develop before others. We discuss implications for the assessment of early written products

AB - Writing development is understood to be a multidimensional task, heavily constrained by spelling in its early stages. However, most available evidence comes from studies with learners of the inconsistent English orthography, so our understanding of the nature of early writing could be highly biased. We explored writing dimensions in each language by assessing a series of text-based features in children’s texts between mid-Grade 1 to mid-Grade 2. Results revealed that two constructs, writing conventions and productivity, emerged in both languages, but the influence of orthographic consistency started to be evident in the later time points. Other constructs of text generation seemed to emerge later and were less stable over time. The article thus highlights the language-general underpinnings of early text-writing development and the impact of orthographic consistency; furthermore, it strengthens the view that some writing components develop before others. We discuss implications for the assessment of early written products

KW - Writing Development

KW - Cross-linguistic

KW - Dimensionality

KW - Longitudinal

KW - Text-based

U2 - 10.1177/1086296X19858146

DO - 10.1177/1086296X19858146

M3 - Article

VL - 51

SP - 272

EP - 292

JO - Journal of Literacy Research

JF - Journal of Literacy Research

SN - 1086-296X

IS - 3

ER -