Cognitive and Linguistic Dimensions of Composing: Insights Into Early Writing

Early writing reflects a multifaceted literacy process with certain aspects (i.e. composing) less well understood than others (i.e. transcription). Composing is assessed variously, but recent work suggests promise in examining how children transform their writing from planning (i.e. describing what they want to write prior to writing) to reviewing (i.e. describing what they have written following writing) as a potential proxy for generating and translating ideas. Additionally, research suggests that broad early writing skills are associated with a range of other abilities, including executive function, oral language, and reading. That said, limited research explores these skills alongside specific composing outcomes. This study examined the relationships between children’s composing across two tasks and their executive function, receptive vocabulary, and reading (print knowledge), finding significant linkages between composing transformation and these factors. Research Findings: The study suggests that children’s approaches to composing through transformation (retaining ideas versus modifying ideas versus both) in one task relate to executive function (F = 4.33, p = .006), vocabulary (F = 5.19, p = .002), and print knowledge (F = 3.12, p = .03). Practice or Policy: Group-level differences indicate that children who retained and modified ideas scored higher on these measures than those modifying ideas only. Implications are discussed.