Research has shown that cognitive flexibility plays a critical role in students' learning and academic achievement. However, the unique contribution of cognitive flexibility to academic achievement across schooling is not fully understood. Thus, this study tested whether cognitive flexibility explained a significant amount of variance in academic achievement (i.e., literacy and mathematics outcomes) across Grades 2, 4, and 6, above and beyond fluid intelligence, inhibitory control, working memory, attention, and planning. The sample included 243 second graders, 284 fourth graders, and 203 sixth graders. For Grades 4 and 6, we found that better performance on the flexibility score was associated with better academic outcomes after controlling for fluid intelligence, attention, inhibitory control, working memory, and planning. This effect was not observed for Grade 2. Our findings showed that cognitive flexibility is a key component for school achievement, particularly for older students.

Writing is a particularly complex and demanding task that needs to be mastered to assure students’ success at school. In the last decades, the scientific community has been unanimous about the involvement of cognitive and motivational processes in the learning of writing. However, little is still known about some motivation-related processes, such as the reasons why students write. Therefore, this study analyzed the role of motivation in writing in developing writers, by examining the motives to write of 321 sixth graders. We used the Writing Motivation Questionnaire, which is a new instrument tapping the following motivations for writing: curiosity, involvement, grades, competition, social recognition, emotional regulation, and relief from boredom. Findings confirmed the multidimensional nature of motivations to write and supported the validity and reliability of the instrument. Also, results revealed that the strongest motives to write were grades and curiosity, and that curiosity and social recognition were significant predictors of writing quality, above and beyond attitudes and self-efficacy. Together these findings confirm the key role of motivation in writing and provide validity evidence of the Writing Motivation Questionnaire. This seems a useful tool to better understand the motivational processes involved in learning to write. However, despite the increasing research investment in this area, it is still important to carry out further studies that may contribute to the enrichment of the field of writing motivation.

There is consensus among researchers that misspellings are something to avoid. However, misspellings also convey relevant information for researchers and educators. The present study is a first effort toward the analysis of misspellings produced by Portuguese children. Specifically, we aimed to examine the association between misspellings in dictation and composing tasks; compare misspellings across grade, type, and task; and test the contribution of different misspellings produced in dictation and in composition to text quality. For that, 933 Portuguese pupils in Grade 2 (n = 297), Grade 4 (n = 302), and Grade 6 (n = 334) performed a spelling-to-dictation task and wrote an opinion essay. Misspellings were categorized into phonetically inaccurate, phonetically accurate, and stress mark errors. Results showed correlations between the same type of misspellings across tasks for phonetically inaccurate errors in Grades 2 and 4, and phonetically accurate errors in Grade 2. Moreover, pupils produced more misspellings in dictation than composing tasks, and there was a progressive decrease in phonetically inaccurate and phonetically accurate misspellings across schooling, though stress mark errors were more frequent in Grade 4 than in other grades. Finally, spelling errors predicted text quality, particularly in younger children. Overall, these findings are aligned with extant results on spelling development and support current voices claiming for fine-grained analyses of misspellings. As they may vary across grade and task, and impact text quality differently, a detailed approach to spelling errors can provide valuable information on the development of this skill.

Children’s writing depends on strategic and self-regulated behaviors as well as on attention and transcription skills. Despite the well-established effectiveness of interventions based on the self-regulated strategy development model (SRSD), little is known about their effects when combined with the explicit teaching and systematic training of attention or transcription. This study compared the effects of SRSD interventions that taught students a planning strategy and how to use it compose text, with additional components of attention (via focused meditation exercises) or transcription (via copy and alphabet exercises). We used a quasi-experimental design with three groups of Portuguese third graders: SRSD + attention (n = 42), SRSD + transcription (n = 37), and wait list (n = 34). Measures of transcription, executive functions, motivation, written production, and academic achievement were collected before and after the interventions. Analyses of co-variance revealed that the SRSD + transcription group surpassed the others in terms of handwriting fluency as well as in terms of spelling accuracy, though only among the weakest spellers at pretest. Moreover, in comparison to the wait list group, both SRSD groups showed better planning skills, wrote more complete texts, and displayed better executive functioning at posttest. After the intervention, though the SRSD + transcription group produced better texts than their peers, the SRSD + attention group achieved better academic performance, but only among those with poorer grades at pretest. Regarding motivation, we only found an effect of the SRSD + transcription intervention on self-efficacy for ideation, among students with lower self-efficacy at pretest. These findings suggest the importance of articulating writing and self-regulation strategies with attention and transcription training in early schooling.

There is a growing body of research showing that writers are influenced by motivation-related aspects. This study documents the translation process of the Portuguese version of the Writing Motivation Questionnaire and the construction of two scales to measure self-efficacy for handwriting and story writing. The psychometric properties of these instruments were then explored. Firstly, we examined the factorial structure of these instruments and tested measurement invariance across two independent samples of 202 and 193 third graders. Secondly, we evaluated the reliability of the scales and their convergent/discriminant validity by testing the relationship among them and with external correlates (viz., handwriting fluency and story length and quality). Thirdly, we tested instruments' predictive validity by regressing story length and quality on motives to write, and on self-efficacy for handwriting and story writing. Findings confirmed the multidimensional nature of motivations to write and supported the validity and reliability of the scales developed. Regression analyses showed that competition-and grades-related had, respectively, a negative and positive contribution on story quality. Moreover, self-efficacy for story writing and handwriting contributed, respectively, to story length and quality, above and beyond handwriting fluency. This study provided evidence on the validity and reliability of the instruments under analysis, showing their usefulness to assess motivational dimensions in students as young as 8 years old. Findings join to current research emphasizing the importance of having valid and reliable tools to explore the role of motivation in young children's writing.