Proficiency scales for early writing development

Jesper Bremholm ; Jeppe Bundsgaard Aarhus University ; Kristine Kabel Aarhus University

Abstract

Despite the growing prominence of writing in both educational contexts and society at large, research-based knowledge about the development of writing remains lacking, particularly regarding the developmental trajectories that students pass through as they encounter and grapple with the complex system of more formal writing during their primary years of school. This article presents a study that examined writing development in Danish primary grade students (ages 6 to 8) from a linguistic perspective to identify developmental patterns in students’ writing skills during these years. In the study, we applied a multidimensional analytical framework based on a text-oriented model of writing, for the coding of a large number of digitalised student texts (N=803). Subsequently, we analysed the coding results using statistical Rasch theory. Through this procedure, we were able to identify developmental patterns in the students’ writing in the form of different proficiency groups along four textual dimensions and to describe a number of linguistic levels for each dimension. Furthermore, the article discusses didactic potentials and limits from using proficiency groups when teaching writing in primary grades.

Journal
Writing and Pedagogy
Published
2022-07-02
DOI
10.1558/wap.21490
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Writing and Pedagogy
  2. Writing and Pedagogy

References (77) · 8 in this index

  1. Alamargot, D. & Fayol, M. (2009). Modelling the development of written composition. In R. Beard, D. Myhill, M…
  2. Allard, L. & Ulatowska, H. K. (1991). Cohesion in the written narrative and procedural discourse of fifth gra…
  3. Allison, P., Beard, R. & Willcocks, J. (2002). Subordination in children’s writing. Language and Education, 1…
  4. Andersen, E. B. (1973). Conditional inference for multiple choice questionnaires. British Journal of Mathemat…
  5. Andersen, T. H. & Holsting, A. E. M. (2015). Teksten i grammatikken [The text in the grammar]. Syddansk Unive…
Show all 77 →
  1. Andersen, T. H. & Smedegaard, F. (2005). Hvad er meningen? [What is the meaning?]. Syddansk Universitetsforlag.
  2. Research in the Teaching of English
  3. Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M. (1987). The Psychology of Written Composition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  4. Berninger, V. W. & Swanson, H. L. (1994). Modifying Hayes and Flower’s model of skilled writing to explain be…
  5. Brandt, D. (2001). Literacy in American Lives. Cambridge University Press.
  6. Brandt, D. (2015). The Rise of Writing: Redefining Mass Literacy. Cambridge University Press.
  7. Bremholm, J., Kabel, K., Bundsgaard, J. & Berthelsen, U. D. (2020). Manual for analytisk kodning af elevtekst…
  8. Writing and Pedagogy
  9. Caravolas, M., Lervåg, A., Mousikou, P., Efrim, C., Litavsky, M. & Onochi-Quintanilla, E., et al. (2012). Com…
  10. Christie, F. & Derewianka, B. (2008). School Discourse. Continuum.
  11. Research in the Teaching of English
  12. Research in the Teaching of English
  13. Dias, P., Freedman, A., Medway, P. & Par, A. (1999). Worlds apart: Acting and writing in academic and workpla…
  14. Diderichsen, P. (1946). Elementær dansk grammatik [Elementary Danish grammar]. Gyldendal.
  15. Donahue, C. & Lillis, T. (2014). Models of writing and text production. In E.M. Jakobs & D. P. Perrin (Eds.),…
  16. Research in the Teaching of English
  17. Dyson, A. H. (2020). ‘This isn’t my real writing’: The fate of children’s agency in too-tight curricula. Theo…
  18. Ehri, L. C. (1987). Learning to read and spell words. Journal of Reading Behaviour, 14, 5–31. https://doi.org…
  19. Ehri, L. C. (1997). Learning to read and learning to spell are one and the same, almost. In C. A. Perfetti, L…
  20. Evensen, L. S. (1997). Å skrive seg stor: Utviking av koherens og social identitet i tidlig skriving [To writ…
  21. College Composition and Communication
  22. Fitzgerald, J. (1987). Research on revision in writing. Review of Educational Research, 57(4), 481–506. https…
  23. Fraillon, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T., Ainley, J. & Gebhardt, E. (2015). International computer and informat…
  24. Frith, U. (1985). Beneath the surface of developmental dyslexia. In K. Patterson, M. Coltheart & J. Marshall …
  25. Gentry, J. R. (1982). Analysis of developmental spelling skills in GNYS AT WRK. The reading teacher, 36, 192–200.
  26. Graham, S., Gillespie, A. & McKeown, D. (2013). Writing: Importance, development and instruction. Reading and…
  27. Hall-Mills, S. & Apel, K. (2015). Linguistic feature development across grades and genre in elementary writin…
  28. Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning (Re…
  29. Halliday, M. A. K. (1993). Towards a language-based theory of learning. Linguistics and Education, 5(2), 93–1…
  30. Halliday, M. A. K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. Longman.
  31. Halliday, M. A. K. & Matthiessen, M. I. M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar (3rd ed.). Hodder Ed…
  32. Hansen, E. & Heltoft, L. (2011). Grammatik over det Danske Sprog [A Grammar of the Danish language]. Det Dans…
  33. Journal of Writing Research
  34. Harpin, W. S. (1976). The second ‘R’: Writing development in the junior school. Allen and Unwin.
  35. Hasan, R. (2016 [2001]). Wherefore context? The ontogenesis of context in the system and process of language.…
  36. Henderson, E. H. & Templeton, S. (1986). A developmental perspective of formal spelling instruction through a…
  37. Hudson, R. (2009). Measuring maturity. In R. Beard, D. Myhill, M. Nystrand & J. Riley (Eds.), The SAGE handbo…
  38. Hunt, K. W. (1965). Grammatical structures written at three grade levels. NCTE research report no. 3.
  39. Hyland, K. (2002). Teaching and researching writing. Longman.
  40. Juul, H. (2007). Sproglige færdigheder og læseudvikling. En undersøgelse af danske børn fra starten af børneh…
  41. Writing and Pedagogy
  42. Kabel, K., Berthelsen, U. D., Bremholm, J. & Bundsgaard, J. (2020). Analysemodel til scoring af elevtekster […
  43. Kamberelis, G. & Bovino, T. D. (1999). Cultural artefacts as scaffolds for genre development. Reading Researc…
  44. Kirkland, D. (2013). A search past silence: The literacy of young black men. Teachers College Press.
  45. Korsgaard, K., Vitger, M. & Hannibal, S. (2015). Opdagende skrivning – en vej ind i læsningen [Explorative wr…
  46. Kress, G. (1982). Learning to write. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
  47. Kress, G. (1997). Before writing: Rethinking the paths to literacy. Routledge.
  48. Krogh, E. & Jakobsen, K. S. (Eds.). (2019). Understanding young people’s writing development: Identity, disci…
  49. Leppänen, U., Niemi, P., Aunola, K. & Nurmi, J. (2006). Development of reading and spelling Finnish from pres…
  50. Loban, W. (1976). Language development: Kindergarten through grade twelve. National Council of Teachers of En…
  51. Martin, J. R. & White, P. R. R. (2005). The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. Palgrave Macmillan.
  52. McCutchen, D. & Perfetti, C. A. (1982). Coherence and connectedness in the development of discourse productio…
  53. McGee, L. M. & Richgels, D. J. (2000). Literacy’s beginnings: Supporting young readers and writers (3rd ed.).…
  54. Myhill, D. (2008). Towards a linguistic model of sentence development in writing. Language and Education, 22(…
  55. Myhill, D. (2009). Becoming a designer: Trajectories of linguistic development. In R. Beard, D. Myhill & M. N…
  56. O’Brien, D. (1992). Writing in the primary school. Longman.
  57. O’Donnell, R. C., Griffin, W. J. & Norris, R. C. (1967). Syntax of kindergarten and elementary school childre…
  58. Paratore, J. R., Cassano, C. M. & Schickedanz, J. A. (2011). Supporting early (and later) literacy developmen…
  59. Perrera, K. (1984). Children’s writing and reading: Analysing classroom language. Blackwell.
  60. Rental, V. & King, M. (1983). Present at the beginning. In P. Mosenthal, L. Tamor & S. Walmsley (Eds.), Resea…
  61. Rothery, J. & Stenglin, M. (2000). Interpreting literature: The role of appraisal. In L. Unsworth (Ed.), Rese…
  62. Rowe, D. W. (2008). Development of writing abilities in childhood. In C. Bazerman (Ed.), Handbook of research…
  63. Rubin, H., Patterson, P. A. & Kantor, M. (1991). Morphological development and writing ability in children an…
  64. Salas, N. (2013). Early development of text writing in two contrasting orthographies: English and Spanish. Ba…
  65. Schultz, K. & Fecho, B. (2000). Society’s child: Social context and writing development. Educational Psycholo…
  66. Sharp, A. C., Sinatra, G. M. & Reynolds, R. E. (2008). The development of children’s orthographic knowledge: …
  67. Teale, W. & Sulzby, E. (1986). Emergent literacy as a perspective for examining how young children become wri…
  68. Tolchinsky, L. (2016). From text to language and back: The emergence of written language. In C. A. MacArthur,…
  69. Veber Nielsen, A.M. (2016). God, bædre, best: Om ortografisk viden og ortografisk indlæring hos danske børn p…
  70. Wray, D. & Medwell, J. (2006). Progression in writing and the northern Ireland levels for writing. Research r…
  71. Yde, P. & Spoelders, M. (1990). Cohesive ties in written narratives: A developmental study with beginning wri…
  72. Ziegler, M. (1993). Staveudviklingen kan inddeles i trin: Diagnostiske staveprøver – Lærervejledning til C1 o…