Linguistic, Reading and Phonological Processing Factors Predicting Writing Composition in School-aged Children

Objectives: This study aimed to explore how linguistic reading, and phonological processing skills contribute to writing composition in school-aged children. Understanding the key predictors of writing performance can provide valuable insights into the complex linguistic and cognitive processes involved in writing development. Methods: A total of 115 children from 2nd to 6th grade participated, all scoring at or above 80 on a nonverbal intelligence test. Writing composition was assessed using the K-CELF-5 writing test. Linguistic measures were evaluated through receptive vocabulary REVT, sentence repetition, and sentence assembly from the K-CELF-5. Reading abilities included word decoding, passage reading fluency and reading comprehension of the KOLRA. Phonological processing skills were assessed using the tasks that evaluated phonological awareness, rapid naming, and nonword repetition from the KOLRA. Pearson correlation and multiple stepwise regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship and predictive power of these variables on writing composition. Results: Writing composition was significantly correlated with all linguistic, reading and phonological processing variables, except nonword repetition. Stronger correlations were found with linguistic variables, while phonological awareness and word decoding showed relatively weaker correlations. The three significant predictors of writing composition were syntactic awareness, which was the strongest predictor followed by rapid naming and receptive vocabulary. Conclusion: The finding suggest that syntactic awareness, receptive vocabulary, and rapid naming all play crucial roles in writing composition for school-aged children. This highlights the importance of both linguistic knowledge and phonological efficiency, emphasizing the complexity of writing, which requires a combination of linguistic and phonological processing skills.