Exploring the Relations Between Executive Function and Writing Skills Across Development: A Meta-Analytic Path Analysis

• In Event: Leveraging Innovative Methods in Meta-Analysis to Advance Developmental Theory

Abstract

Theoretical models of writing development emphasize the importance of executive function (EF) skills for successful writing (e.g., Berninger et al., 2002; Kim, 2020; Kim & Schatschneider, 2017). Most models include some combination of working memory, inhibitory control, attention, and cognitive flexibility. Moreover, effective evidence-based approaches to writing instruction (e.g., Self-Regulated Strategy Development) emphasize metacognitive skills that likely draw on EF to support successful writing among struggling students (e.g., Graham et al., 2005). Theoretically, EF skills appear to be critical for successful writing. Writers use working memory to hold ideas in memory while writing connected text, inhibitory control to maintain focus on writing while ignoring distractions, and cognitive flexibility to shift between writing new text, re-reading what was written, and editing any errors.

Recent research indicates that individual differences in EF are associated with various writing skills across development, providing support for the theoretical importance of EF skills for writing (e.g., Salas & Silvente, 2020). For example, Salas and Silvente reported that inhibition and working memory contributed to children’s passage writing skills. Moreover, they reported that there were developmental shifts in the associations between EF and writing, such that EF is important for narrative writing skills in early elementary school, but becomes increasingly important for persuasive writing by the end of middle school. This study highlights that different components of EF are important for different writing skills across development. Despite recent meta-analyses linking EF to reading and mathematics (e.g., Peng et al., 2018; Peng, Wang, & Namkung, 2018), a study is needed to synthesize the literature on the relations between EF and writing. Such an investigation has important implications for assessment and instruction of writing skills among school-age children. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to use meta-analytic structural equation modeling to describe the nature of the relations between EF and writing across development.

We conducted a comprehensive search of the published and unpublished literature on EF and writing among school-age (i.e., K-12) children, and we identified over 200 studies that reported correlations between children’s EF skills and a writing outcome (e.g., spelling, sentence writing, passage writing). We coded all studies for the characteristics of study samples, the EF measures used, and the writing measures used. Results will be analyzed using a meta-analytic path analysis to examine the unique effects of working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility on different aspects of writing. To do so, we will pool correlation matrices across studies and estimating the meta-analytic path analysis using the pooled correlation matrix. Such an approach allows for the examination of the unique influences of each component of EF on children’s writing skills, after controlling for other aspects of EF. This is in contrast to a traditional correlational meta-analysis, which only examines the zero-order relations between constructs. These results will contribute both to a theoretical understanding of the relationship between EF skills and writing skills at various developmental points, as well as to the development of writing interventions that include these key EF skills.

Authors

• J. Marc Goodrich, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Presenting Author

• Michael Hebert, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• Derek Rodgers, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• George Toman, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author