The Gender Gap in Writing: Gender Profiles for Paper- and Computer-Based Writing in Early Education

Research Findings: The gender gap in writing has received strong interest from literacy education and research, based on recurrent reports of gender differences in writing typically favoring female students. In this study, we investigated gender differences on paper- and computer-based text composing performance among early primary children (N = 544 Grade 2 students). Multilevel analyses revealed significant differences between boys and girls in both compositional quality and productivity across writing modalities. Specifically, boys consistently exhibited lower scores in both compositional quality and productivity compared to girls. Gender differences were notably influenced by various student-level factors such as handwriting automaticity, spelling ability (more impactful for boys), and word reading skills (more impactful for girls), which demonstrated differential associations with compositional performance between genders. Practice or Policy: While classroom-level predictors did not significantly contribute to explaining gender differences across writing modalities, time for practising writing and for teaching process writing skills predicted children’s paper- and computer-based writing performance. These findings suggest that foundational skills like handwriting and keyboarding automaticity are important for all students, but gender-sensitive approaches may be needed to address gender differences in writing.