The effect of transcription skills, text generation, and self-regulation on Icelandic children’s text writing

The main purpose of this longitudinal research was to study the effects of transcription skills, text generation skills and self-regulation on Icelandic children’s writing, compare their effects on two different text genres and see if it changes with age, from second to fourth grade. Eighty-seven Icelandic children were followed up from first through fourth grade. In first grade the children’s transcription skills, text generation skills and self-regulation were evaluated. In second and fourth grade the children composed two written texts, a narrative and an information text. The dimensions of text quality analysed included text length, vocabulary, cohesion, structure and spelling. A multiple regression model was used to assess the importance of the three foundational skills for children’s writing in both grades and for both text genres. Transcription skills strongly predicted spelling in both text genres and in both grades but had limited effect on measures of text quality. Text generation skills had limited effect on both spelling and text quality while self-regulation significantly affected more variables than did transcription skills and text generation skills. Finally, the results suggest that the effects of the three foundational skills develop in different ways in the two text genres, and that children can activate their text generation skills for narrative writing earlier than for information text writing.