Process writing instruction is an influential paradigm in elementary classrooms, but studies of its effectiveness are mixed. These mixed results may occur because teachers implement process writing in vastly difference ways, which makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of process approaches broadly. Therefore, this literature review examines the features of the process writing instruction are effective. Drawing on empirical evidence, it answers the question: What practices within process writing have evidence of effectiveness? A literature search was conducted and 93 studies that met the inclusion criteria were found. The studies were coded thematically and indicate seven categories of effective practices: writing strategy instruction, computers in the writing process, talk during the writing process, play during the writing process, including children’s ways of knowing, flexible participation structures, and mentor texts. Evidence about the effectiveness of these features and directions for future research are discussed.

In order to prepare effective writing teachers, teacher educators need an understanding of how preservice preparation programs, inservice professional development, and the policies and practices of K-12 schools work together to influence teachers’ writing instruction. This qualitative case study uses complexity theory (Davis & Sumara, 2006) to analyze how one teacher learned to teach writing within and through the emergent, nested, interacting systems of teacher education and the school where she took her first teaching job. Data sources were fieldnotes of her teaching and interviews about her instructional decisions, which were coded using constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and the theoretical lens. Findings indicate the teacher’s understanding of writing instruction emerged through interactions between systems as she reproduced and recombined the ideas, values, goals, and activities she encountered within her undergraduate and graduate courses, her school district, and her sixth-grade classroom. The study concludes with discussions of the dynamics of learning to teach writing that emerged through the research and the implications of these dynamics for teacher education, educational policy, and future research.