This study uses Bandura's Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Self-Efficacy (MSPSE; Bandura, 1990) and Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA; Harter, 1988) to examine the extent to which self-efficacy and competency-related elements of the self-concept are independent constructs. Factor analysis of data provided by 778 high school students revealed that when measured using domain-general measures such as the MSPSE and SPPA, self-efficacy and competency self-concept do not represent totally separate, distinct constructs. Overlap of dimensions occurs at both the first- and second-order levels of analysis. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

This study compares a problem-solving account of discovery through writing, which attributes discovery to strategic rhetorical planning and assumes discovery is associated with better quality text, to a dual-process account, which attributes discovery to the combined effect of 2 conflicting processes with opposing relationships to text quality. Low and high self-monitors were asked to write under 2 planning conditions. Keystroke-logging was used to assess the relationship of writing processes with discovery and text quality. The results support the dual-process account: Discovery was related to spontaneous sentence production and global revision of text, which had opposing relationships with text quality. Writing involves both expressing one's ideas in written form and communicating these ideas effectively to the reader. Within psychologically informed approaches to the teaching of writing, there has been an enduring tension between approaches that emphasize the development of students' capacity for selfexpression

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Although keystroke logging promises to provide a valuable tool for writing research, it can often be difficult to relate logs to underlying processes. This article describes the procedures and measures that the authors developed to analyze a sample of 80 keystroke logs, with a view to achieving a better alignment between keystroke-logging measures and underlying cognitive processes. They used these measures to analyze pauses, bursts, and revisions and found that (a) burst lengths vary depending on their initiation type as well as their termination type, suggesting that the classification system used in previous research should be elaborated; (b) mixture models fit pause duration data better than unimodal central tendency statistics; and (c) individuals who pause for longer at sentence boundaries produce shorter but more well-formed bursts. A principal components analysis identified three underlying dimensions in these data: planned text production, withinsentence revision, and revision of global text structure.

Outlining probably represents the most common strategy recommended to help novice writers improve their writing. However, although good evidence exists that it has beneficial effects, much less is known about how it achieves these effects. In this paper, we examine how ideas are developed during outlining and how this is related to the quality of the text that is subsequently produced. We focus particularly on how the different processes are coordinated in working memory and on the differences between more and less experienced writers, and consider the implications for educational practice. Two groups of writers, differing in educational level, were asked to write argumentative essays about a discussion topic. In order to investigate the contribution of different components of working memory to outlining, secondary tasks designed to load on the central executive and visual-spatial sketchpad components of working memory were imposed during outlining. Effects of educational level and secondary tasks on the ways novice writers generated and organized their ideas during outlining, and on the resulting quality of the text, were measured. The results suggest that the beneficial effects of planning on text content depend on the extent to which new ideas are introduced during the organizational phase of planning and on the extent to which rhetorical goals are incorporated in planning. However, less experienced writers showed much less evidence of this kind of knowledge-transforming activity during outlining, and we suggest that this aspect of outlining should be the target of educational interventions. Secondary-task effects suggested that the central executive and the spatial component of the visuo-spatial sketchpad play significant, but different roles in the transformation of knowledge, with the spatial component having a specific effect on the generation of new ideas during the organizational phase of planning. We suggest that teaching interventions with novice writers should therefore include attention to the spatial properties of outlines. Finally, some evidence indicates that, although outlining has a beneficial effect on content for all writers, it may reduce the quality of verbal expression for less experienced writers. We suggest that this aspect of their writing needs to be closely monitored. Furthermore, more research into the detailed nature of the processes involved in turning plans into text needs to be conducted.