Assessing the Microstructure of Written Language Using a Retelling Paradigm

Abstract

PURPOSE: The primary goal of this study was to document the progression of the microstructural elements of written language in children at 4 grade levels. The secondary purpose was to ascertain whether the variables selected for examination could be classified into valid categories that reflect the multidimensional nature of writing. METHOD: Written language samples were collected and transcribed from 120 children in Grades 3 through 6 using an expository text-retelling paradigm. Nine variables at various levels of language were analyzed. RESULTS: Using a text-retelling paradigm, measures of productivity (e.g., total number of words and ideas) improved steadily with age, whereas measures of complexity (e.g., mean length of T-unit) did not. Results for measures of accuracy (e.g., spelling and writing conventions) were mixed, with some showing improvement across grades. Grade 3 students showed consistently poorer performance than students in Grades 4, 5, and 6. Grade 4 students showed poorer performance than students in Grades 5 and 6. Exploratory factor analysis suggests that writing can be represented by 3 factors: Productivity, Complexity, and Accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians can use this multidimensional scheme for examining writing skills using text-retelling formats with children from Grades 3 through 6. This empirically based framework for measuring microstructural variables of writing provides clinicians with a 3-prong conceptual framework for determining children's strengths and weaknesses within the translational stage of writing.