This study determines the writing ability and the writing-related variables among first- and second-graders in elementary school to see if there are any developmental differences between grades, and examines the writing-related variables that predict writing ability. Moreover, by comparing the characteristics of children in the writing risk group with those in the non-risk group, we examined the characteristics of children in the writing skill risk group.
In the study, first-graders (23 children) and second-graders (21 children) from elementary schools in Jeolanamdo Province were selected for writing tests and examinations of writing skills. The writing examination tasks included spelling, composition, and writing fluency, while the writing-related tests included vocabulary, orthographic awareness, reading fluency, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks. An independent sample t-test was conducted to look at the differences in writing and writing-related task scores between the first- and second-graders, and a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed using the scores of each of the three writing skill tasks (spelling, composition, and writing fluency) as predictors to identify the variables that predict writing ability. Next, a nonparametric test (the Mann-Whitney U test) was conducted to compare the writing characteristics of children at risk versus average children based on their respective task scores.
The results of the study are as follows. Firstly, spelling, composition, and writing fluency showed significantly higher levels for second-graders than first-graders, while orthographic awareness, word-reading fluency, paragraph-reading fluency, and phonological awareness among writing-related variants showed significant differences between grades.
Secondly, the study looked at the variables that predict spelling ability, and found that the paragraph-reading fluency and orthographic awareness influenced the composition ability and paragraph-reading fluency, and the writing fluency ability influenced RAN.
Lastly, when comparing task performance scores of children at risk for spelling problems and children without risk, only orthographic awareness and word-reading fluency showed significant differences between the two groups. In the composition risk group and the writing fluency risk group, only the RAN task showed any significant difference compared to the at-risk group.
As we saw above, children in the first and second grades of elementary school showed differences in performance by grade in their spelling, composition, and writing fluency. In addition, the influence of writing-related variables varied for each group and sub-area of writing. From this study, we were able to examine how writing related variables predict writing skills, and we found that these associations vary depending on the sub-area of writing (e.g., spelling, composition, and writing fluency). In addition, in studying children in writing risk groups as clustered by the type of writing, it is possible that problems that arise in the development phase of writing can vary depending on the pattern of defects in the writing-related variables.