The relationship between working memory capacity and writing ability was examined via a linguistic analysis of student essays. Undergraduate students (n = 108) wrote timed, prompt-based essays and completed a battery of cognitive assessments. The surface- and discourse-level linguistic features of students' essays were then analyzed using natural…

This study investigated the relationship between specific cognitive patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSWs) and the errors children make in reading, writing, and spelling tests from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Third Edition (KTEA-3). Participants were selected from the KTEA-3 standardization sample based on five cognitive…

To study the neural bases of semantic composition in language processing without confounds from syntactic composition, recent magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies have investigated the processing of constructions that exhibit some type of syntax-semantics mismatch. The most studied case of such a mismatch is "complement coercion;" expressions such…

Explores the alternating mental perspectives that writers assume during the composing process, from inner experience to outer judgment and back to experience. (HTH)

Grounded in state-of-the-art research, this book explores how English language learners develop both the oral language and literacy skills necessary for school success. Chapters examine the cognitive bases of English acquisition, and how the process is different for children from alphabetic (such as Spanish) and nonalphabetic (such as Chinese)…

This study explores the connection between writing and working memory, specifically the role of the subvocal articulatory rehearsal process (or inner voice). The authors asked the 18 participants to type sentences describing 24 multipanel cartoons. In some conditions, the participants were required to repeat a syllable continuously while writing.…

Aimed both at readers interested in cognition and/or writing and at instructional psychologists, this book explores the notion that various writing strategies involve different kinds of thinking, which ultimately affect the written product. The first part presents concepts central to the writing process, including two models of this process, an…

Contends that a student gains knowledge through the act of writing as she joins bits of information into a whole. Presents a model for scanning students' written material to determine the way ideas are related. Notes that the value of a piece of information depends on how the writer joins it with other information. (KC)

Readers as well as writers compose meaning. Using the same characteristics essential to effective writing--planning, drafting, aligning, revising, and monitoring--readers react creatively with the text. In response to the author's intention and their own knowledge base, they decide what they want to get from their reading. Constantly renegotiating…

Noting that although a great deal of empirical research has been done to investigate the writing rules commonly taught, this paper points out that no one has yet constructed a deep theory of the relationship between cognition and writing that confirms the writing rules and explains how they work. The paper then uses theories and research in the…

Three elements of the reading process--presence, mediation, and ego response--help students discover their own ontological, intellectual, and psychological role in bringing forth literature's meanings. Students experience a dramatic shift in their ability to make sense of literature as they become increasingly conscious of these three elements.…

Examines the way that value mediates the construction of meaning, how the active processes of constructing meaning are molded around value. Explores how a description of the writing process in terms of value might inform classroom practice--how it might affect teacher perceptions of what students are doing in their writing and how teachers comment…

A study explored how cognitive mapping assists college students in gathering information from long prose passages and organizing this information for subsequent writing. Mapping is a prewriting technique in which students develop a cognitive scheme or graphic representation of a text, which reduces memory load and facilitates integration and…

Explores (l) the role of pre-text in translating ideas into linguistic forms, and (2) the relationship of translating and pre-text in the planning and reviewing process. Suggests four observations worthy of further study concerning the nature and function of pre-text. (NH)

An argument is put forth for restructuring the community college curriculum around recurring constructs common to all disciplines. First, introductory comments review various perceptions of essential learning, offering support for the position of constructivists and proponents of writing across the curriculum that learning is an activity and a…