Debora Valcan

Digital tools are now an integral part of most communities across the globe. In this context, preparing beginning writers to produce paper- and computer-generated texts with similar levels of proficiency is paramount. In the current study, we examined general attitudes toward writing and specific attitudes toward writing paper- and computer-based texts of 544 Grade 2 students (295 female). We investigated the unique contributions of children's general and specific writing attitudes in predicting their writing performance (i.e., compositional quality and productivity) across modalities after controlling for students' inscription skills (i.e., handwriting automaticity and keyboarding automaticity), gender, and nesting due to classroom and schools. Results from hierarchical-linear modelling showed that general attitude toward writing made a statistically unique contribution to predicting the quality of students' paper- and computer-based texts. Specific attitudes towards writing paper-based texts made statistically unique contributions in explaining paper-based compositional quality and productivity. Contrastingly, specific attitudes towards writing computer-based texts did not make a unique and statistically significant contribution in predicting computerbased compositional quality and productivity. Following a multi-methods design, we further examined children's motivational beliefs, namely value and utility, attitudes and interest, and competence in writing paper- and computer-based texts (subsample of n = 54 students). Findings from deductive content analysis suggested that children found writing and learning how to write paper- and computer-based texts equally important but showed more negative attitudes towards writing paper-based texts. Results were also indicative that children believed they were more capable of writing paper-based texts.

In many classrooms across the globe, students are expected to comprehend and produce handwritten and computer-generated texts as soon as they start school. As we progress towards digitalisation in education, it has become necessary to understand the effects of writing modality on students' literacy performance and development. The current meta-analysis integrates findings from 22 international studies involving 6168 participants, comparing the effects of handwriting and keyboarding on the writing and reading performance of primary-aged students. Moderator analyses were executed to determine if grade level, keyboarding experience, timed measurement of letter writing, types of tasks measuring letter writing fluency, and study design moderated modality effects on writing outcomes. Results revealed a significant effect size when comparing writing quality between handwriting and keyboarding, with students producing better quality passages via handwriting than keyboarding (ES = 0.53). Results also revealed that only grade level significantly moderated the effect size for letter writing fluency and written word production. Findings indicated that handwriting and keyboarding practices are associated with improvements on specific reading skills in primary education, with no clear superiority of modality. We discuss implications for literacy research and teaching both locally and globally.

Two hundred ninety-eight primary teachers (88% female) from across all Australian states and territories reported on the frequency with which they implemented instructional adaptations for struggling writers in their classrooms. They also rated their preparation and self-efficacy for teaching writing. The majority of participating teachers indicated they provided additional instruction on spelling, capitalization and punctuation, and sentence construction at least once a week or more often. Teachers further reported implementing additional minilessons and reteaching strategies and skills, as well as extra instruction on grammar, handwriting, text structure, revising, and planning on a monthly basis or more often. The majority of teachers reported never or only once a year using adaptations to support digital writing. The frequency with which teachers provided extra instruction on spelling, handwriting, text structure, revising, and computer use differed by grade. Only teachers’ perceived efficacy to teach writing made a unique and statistically significant contribution to predicting the use of instructional adaptations for writing and adaptations to support digital writing after controlling for teacher and classroom variables.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, keyboard-based writing has become a key component of daily communication, with students engaging in keyboarding early in their school trajectories. Nonetheless, there’s a lack of systematic studies investigating individual-level factors impacting keyboard-based writing and relationships with the writing instruction typically provided in primary school settings. Using multilevel modelling the current study examined student-level predictors of keyboard-based writing quality and fluency in Year 2 Australian children (N = 544), including keyboarding automaticity, spelling, reading skills, executive functioning, writing attitudes, gender; and classroom-level (N = 47) variables predicting keyboard-based writing, such as teachers’ preparation and instructional practices for writing. Results revealed that keyboarding automaticity, spelling, word reading, general attitudes toward writing, and gender were uniquely related to compositional quality. Keyboarding automaticity, word reading, and gender were also uniquely related to compositional fluency. Results also showed that female students outperformed their male peers in keyboarding automaticity, compositional quality and fluency, but also on attitudes toward writing and reading comprehension. For classroom-level factors, findings showed time teaching keyboarding positively related to compositional fluency and time teaching handwriting negatively related to compositional quality and fluency. Interactions were also found between gender and time teaching keyboarding, teaching revision and planning strategies, and specific student-level factors. The novel findings from this study suggest that, to support Year 2 students’ keyboard-based writing, attention must be placed on multiple components predicting students’ writing performance.