Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 Development of Writing: Key Components of Written Language Patricia Thatcher Kantor Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING: KEY COMPONENTS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE By PATRICIA THATCHER KANTOR A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2012 Patricia Thatcher Kantor defended this dissertation on October 29, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: Richard K. Wagner Professor Directing Dissertation Barbara Foorman University Representative Christopher Schatschneider Committee Member Jon Maner Committee Member Young-Suk Kim Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii I dedicate this work to my husband for his unwavering encouragement throughout my graduate school experience, to my children whose love knows no bounds, and to my parents for always encouraging me to reach my full potential. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Rick Wagner for his guidance, mentorship, and patience throughout my graduate career. I could not have asked for a better advisor. I also thank the members of my doctoral committee for their valuable input and support throughout this project. I thank the members of Team Wagner for their role in data collection, entry, and coding. I particularly thank Danielle Lopez for her organization and management of the project. Additionally, I thank Yusra Ahmed for her assistance in submitting writing samples to Coh-Metrix. Support for this research was provided by grant P50 HD052120 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 Components of Writing ...........................................................................................................2 Goals of the Present Study ......................................................................................................5 METHODS ......................................................................................................................................7 Participants ..............................................................................................................................7 Measures ..................................................................................................................................7 Scoring Variables ....................................................................................................................9 Macro-organization ........................................................................................................9 Complexity .....................................................................................................................9 Productivity ..................................................................................................................10 Vocabulary ...................................................................................................................10 Transcription, Coding, and Reliability ..................................................................................11 Procedure ...............................................................................................................................11 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................................13 Data Issues and Attrition .......................................................................................................13 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations ..................................................................................13 Confirmatory Factor Analysis ...............................................................................................14 Model comparison .......................................................................................................16 Longitudinal Measurement Invariance ..................................................................................17 Latent Change Analyses ........................................................................................................18 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................24 Structure of Writing ...............................................................................................................24 Development of Writing ........................................................................................................25 Implications for Education, Limitations, and Future Directions ...........................................27 APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................................57 A. RUBRIC FOR LOGICAL ORDER OF IDEAS ...................................................................57 B. TRANSCRIPTION GUIDELINES .......................................................................................58 C. IRB APPROVAL ..................................................................................................................60 D. SAMPLE PARENT CONSENT LETTER ...........................................................................62 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................63 v BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................69 vi LIST OF TABLES 1 Outlier Analysis .................................................................................................................30 2 Means and standard deviations by time .............................................................................31 3 Time 1 Correlations ...........................................................................................................33 4 Time 2 Correlations ...........................................................................................................34 5 Time 3 Correlations ...........................................................................................................35 6 Time 4 Correlations ...........................................................................................................36 7 Determining indices of vocabulary factor at Time 1 .........................................................37 8 Fit indices and Chi-square difference tests for four- versus three-factors models of writing ............................................................................................................................................38 9 Univariate latent change estimates for macro-organization ...............................................39 10 Univariate latent change estimates for productivity ..........................................................40 11 Univariate latent change estimates for complexity ............................................................41 12 Univariate latent change estimates for vocabulary ............................................................42 13 Correlations among vocabulary indices over time .............................................................43 14 Best fitting univariate models for macro-organization, productivity, and complexity factors ................................................................................................................................44 15 Bivariate latent change model of macro-organization and complexity .............................45 16 Bivariate latent change model of macro-organization and productivity ............................46 17 Bivariate latent change model of productivity and complexity .........................................47 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1 Four factor model of writing at Time 1 .............................................................................48 2 Four factor model of writing at Time 2 .............................................................................49 3 Four factor model of writing at Time 3 .............................................................................50 4 Four factor model of writing at Time 4 .............................................................................51 5 Univariate latent change score model of macro-organization ...........................................52 6 Plot of productivity indicator means over time ..................................................................53 7 Plot of complexity indicator means over time ...................................................................54