S. Graham et al., ROLE OF MECHANICS IN COMPOSING OF ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL STUDENTS - A NEW METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH, Journal of educational psychology, 89(1), 1997, pp. 170-182
The authors used multiple-group structural equation modeling to analyz
e structural relationships between latent factors underlying separate
measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing in Grades 1-6. For co
mpositional fluency, the paths from both handwriting and spelling were
significant in the primary grades, but only the path from handwriting
was significant in the intermediate grades. For compositional quality
, only the path from handwriting was significant at the primary and in
termediate grades. The contribution of spelling to compositional quali
ty was indirect through its correlation with handwriting, Handwriting
and spelling accounted for a sizable proportion of the variance in com
positional fluency (41% to 66%) and compositional quality (25% to 42%)
. These findings show that the mechanical skills of writing may exert
constraints on amount and quality of composing. Theoretical and educat
ional implications of the findings are discussed.