Metadata of the chapter that will be visualized online

Chapter Title

Learning to Write

Copyright Holder

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Copyright Year

Corresponding Author

2011

Family Name

Magno

Given Name

Carlo

Division

Counseling and Educational Psychology Department

Address

Manila, Philippines

Particle
Suffix

Organization
Email

DeLa Salle University

carlo.magno@dlsu.edu.ph

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Learning to Write
CARLO MAGNO
Counseling and Educational Psychology Department,
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

Synonyms

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Composition
proficiency

Definition

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Learning to write is a process where preverbal ideas

(thoughts) are transformed into a written form. Such
written forms produced vary from words to sentences to
higher forms of discourse such as essays, reports,
researches, reviews, poems, stories, dialogues, etc. These
written forms that are generated, formed, and activated
from thoughts are then organized into meaningful information. The organized information is then transformed
into a verbal message that comes in a written form. The
ability to speak and read is prerequisite in writing. Individuals follow a system of grammatical rules, punctuations, capitalizations, and style when composing written
discourse such as in the formulation of sentences and
paragraphs. Proficiency in the production of written discourse improves as the individual develops and gain
experience.

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Theoretical Background

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The domain of learning to write is explained vastly in

a developmental and cognitive perspective. In
a developmental perspective, learning to write contributes
in an individuals literacy level. Children start to show
evidence of ability to write by age 56 years. At this
stage, children have already developed content knowledge
and plot structure. At the later elementary and high school
levels, individuals begin to provide details and support to
their main ideas. By the adult stage, individuals gain the
ability to articulate their knowledge of text structure. This
articulation involves their awareness of specific strategies
in writing in the planning, execution, evaluation, and

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writing;

Technical

writing;

Writing

finalization stage. The effective use of such strategies contributes to a coherent composition.
Individuals development of syntactical formation is
explained by Chomskys generative grammar theory. The
theory posits that individuals have a natural ability in
generating and understanding unlimited combinations
of words and sentences. This theory explains that individuals can create sentences and paragraphs in vast amounts
given the different rules of ones language. These rules may
involve word order and morphological markings
(Tomasello 2008).
The ability to write is explained as a cognitive process
where individuals use and operate on different processes
to produce coherent compositions. When content knowledge is added in the writing task, the individual uses
simultaneous operations to integrate content into the
process of writing, which requires declarative and procedural knowledge. The writing task generally involves generating the idea, organizing the ideas, structuring and
organizing sentences, forming paragraphs with coherent
meaning, and organizing the entire composition. The
idea-generation phase is activated through interaction
with ones readings, conversation and brainstorming
with others, and other factors that stimulates the individual to think of content knowledge to write about. These
ideas are then organized by representing the ideas into
sentence and paragraph structures that basically forms
a discourse. The composition is further organized through
feedback and assessment by oneself or with the assistance
from others. The composition is shaped by creating an
introduction, the body of the text, and conclusion.
The writing stage and the cognition involved in writing is explained in the composition process framework by
Bartlett (2007). The framework explains the writer who
initially thinks about purpose of writing by considering
personal and social influences. The writer then goes
through an interactive process in the preparation to
write by gathering information and potential response
from the audience. In the actual composition process,
the individual attempts to write successively until
a written text is produced. This stage can be facilitated
through instruction.

Norbert Seel (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6,

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

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Learning to Write

The process of writing involves complex tasks,

allowing the individual to enhance their skills. Writing
skills further develops through maturation where individuals become aware and create techniques to facilitate their
writing. Learning theories describe expert writers use
metacognition and self-regulation strategies when engaging in a writing task that allows them to gain desirable
consequences in the outcome of their composition. The
social cognitive theory explains that individuals arrive at
better writing compositions when they are self-regulated
in the process of writing. The theory involves the influence
of the environment and specific behaviors that contributes
to the individuals ability to write. When a well-structured
environment is created, it facilitates a mood for writing.
The autonomy of an individual to engage in writing makes
the individual acquire a belief that one is capable of writing. Specific self-regulated strategies that facilitates better
writing include ways of remembering important words to
use in writing, setting goals for ones composition, evaluating the results of writing, seeking others help by brainstorming, and organizing thoughts (Magno 2009).
When writing a composition, expert type of learners
usually plan, create drafts, and revise their drafts. Planning
involves what the writer wants to write about, the position
and theme of the composition, the support that will be
provided for the main themes, organization and tone of
the paper. The draft is written as the initial formulation of
the composition. The writer thinks about what the reader
needs to know first, how the body of the composition will
be structured, and how to end the composition. The
revision may come in the form of revising ones own
work or asking others to provide feedback or revise. In
the revision process, the writer goes through the entire
manuscript from beginning to end and edit certain parts
that need to be improved. The elements revised are usually
grammar, content, further elaboration, and organization.

Important Scientific Research and Open

Questions
The research findings that involve learning to write are
focused on determining factors that contribute to writing
and specific instruction that facilitates writing.
The factors that influence writing involve two set of
variables: Linguistic devices and psycholinguistic factors.
Linguistic devices include the use of mechanics, parts of
speech, punctuations, number of words, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, etc. in writing. On the other hand, psycholinguistic devices involve learning strategies,
metacognition, self-regulation, self-efficacy, motivation,
attitude, etc., which help individuals arrive at a better

composition. Studies on linguistic devices break the composition into its lexical and syntactical parts. Writing
proficiency is attained depending on the amount of text
characteristics (e.g., Number of words, word per sentence,
character per word, number of sentences, sentences per
paragraph, number of unique words, lexical density,
number of paragraphs, readability, strength index,
descriptive index, etc.), lexical features (e.g., Conjuncts,
exclusives, additives, particularizers, hedges, intensifiers,
demonstratives, etc.), grammatical features (e.g., Noun,
nominalizations, verbs, modals, adjectives, adverb, prepositions, pronouns, articles), and clause feature (e.g.
Coordinates, subordinates, infinitives, adverb, relatives,
passives, etc.). Writing proficiency is attained with less
error. Such error categories include errors in noun endings, articles, subject-verb agreement, verb tense, unnecessary shift in verb tense, verb form, word choice,
preposition errors, pronounantecedent agreement, pronoun shift, subject omitted, capitalization, apostrophe,
hyphenation, spelling, fragments, run-on sentences,
comma, redundancy, word order, contraction, missing
word, and unnecessary word. The psycholinguistic factors
also contribute to writing proficiency when effectively
used. People differ in their use of learning strategies
according to some personal as well as environmental characteristics when writing. Among the personal characteristics that influence individuals writing is the use of
learning strategies such as motivation as well as cognitive
and metacognitive abilities. Environmental factors include
the level of exposure that an individual has, contextual,
and cultural variables.
The issue that arises in the contribution of linguistic
devices and psycholinguistic factors is about the importance of each predictor or which factor contributes to
better writing. These factors are studied separately
depending on the orientation of the researcher. Linguistics
focuses exclusively on the use of linguistic devices to
predict written proficiency (McNamara et al. 2010). On
the other hand, psycholinguistics and learning theorists
focus on building models where the outcome is writing
proficiency. The challenge for future researchers is to
assess the strength of contribution accounted for by the
linguistic devices and psycholinguistic devices (Magno
2008).
Another aspect of studies on learning to write is
focused on how it is facilitated through instruction. The
line of studies in facilitation to writing ends on proper and
better ways of teaching students to write. Such instruction
suggests building a relationship between teachers and
students, teaching students strategies for effective writing,

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Learning to Write

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providing constructive feedback and assessment to

improve student compositions (Thais and Zawacki
2006). Building a relationship between the teacher and
student describes the connection that the teacher needs
to make with the student as a writer. The connection is
made in order for the student to allow the teacher become
his/her mentor and guide in the writing process. This
aspect is within the classroom management domain. The
second aspect is teaching the student to gain awareness
and construct ways to achieve better writing. This aspect
focuses on teaching students the psycholinguistic factors
involved in writing. The assumption here is that students
who are aware and control their writing process are able to
write better. The last line of research in facilitating writing
is through assessment. The assessment process is built
within the instruction and assessment results are utilized
to make students write better. Examples of assessment
techniques are communicating the criteria with the use
of rubrics, providing feedback after writing, and allowing
students to revise their work based on feedback.
The questions stemming from instructions on writing
involve the appropriateness of such techniques in different
contexts. Constructivist approaches in the facilitation of
writing may not work well in other cultures where
teachers authority is expected. The effectiveness of
instruction in writing also depends on how well teachers
carry out the procedure.

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Cross-References

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Beliefs about Language Learning

Complex Skill Acquisition

Discourse
Discourse and the Production of Knowledge
Knowledge and Learning in Natural Language
Language (Discourse) Comprehension and
Understanding
Language Acquisition and Development
Language Learning and Socialization
Learning to Write in a Second Language
Linguistic Factors of Learning
Literacy and Learning
Meaning Development in Child Language:
A Constructivist Approach
Metacognitive Strategies
Mnemotechnics in Second-Language Learning
Psycholinguistics and Learning
Self-Regulation and Motivation Strategies
Vocabulary Learning in a Second Language

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References

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Bartlett, E. J. (2007). Learning to write: Some cognitive and linguistic

components. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Magno, C. (2008). Reading strategy, amount of writing, metacognition,
metamemory, and apprehension as predictors of English written proficiency. Asian EFL Journal: Professional Teaching Article, 29, 1648.
Magno, C. (2009). Self-regulation and approaches to learning in English
composition writing. TESOL Journal, 1, 116.
McNamara, D. S., Crossley, S. A., & McCarthy, P. M. (2010). Linguistic
features of writing quality. Written Communication, 27(1), 5786.
Thais, C., & Zawacki, T. M. (2006). Engaged writers and dynamic disciplines: Research on the academic writing life. Portsmounth: Boynton/
Cook.
Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.

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