The Role of Working Memory, Transcription Skills, and Oral Language Skills in Writing Proficiency Among Taiwanese Children

Purpose: Little research has examined different dimensions of Chinese writing through multiple evaluative approaches, including writing quality, writing productivity, and curriculum-based measurement (CBM) writing accuracy. The study used cross-sectional and longitudinal designs to examine whether working memory, transcription, and oral language skills could predict various dimensions of Chinese writing proficiency. Method: Eighty-four second graders and 100 fourth graders were recruited from Taipei, Taiwan. They undertook the following tasks: working memory, Chinese character dictation, writing fluency, sentence structure, conjunctions (except for the second graders), and picture-prompted writing. The fourth graders received additional text-prompted writing tasks (i.e., a narrative essay and an expository essay) in Grade 5. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that (a) oral language skills were more important to Grade 2 writing quality than transcription skills, whereas the reverse was found in Grade 4 writing quality; (b) transcription skills were more important to Grade 2 CBM writing accuracy than oral language skills, whereas the reverse was found in Grade 4 CBM writing accuracy; and (c) fourth graders' working memory and transcription skills were more important to their Grade 5 narrative CBM writing accuracy than oral language skills, whereas the reverse was found in their Grade 5 expository CBM writing accuracy. Conclusions: The findings partially support the developmental writing model in which children's writing proficiency relies on their transcription skills more than on oral language skills at an early phase, whereas the reverse is found at a later phase. Working memory might emerge as a predictor of Grade 5 writing, and the contributions of transcription and oral language skills to Grade 5 writing proficiency differed across genres.