Getting stuck in writing: exploring elementary students’ writing self-regulation strategies

ABSTRACT

To understand the self-regulatory strategies children used while writing, we asked 780 elementary school students in the United States, “What do you do when you get stuck in your writing?” Using an inductive approach to content analysis, we analysed their responses to an open-ended item on a survey on student motivation for patterns of self-regulatory behaviour. We examined how their responses differed according to gender, grade level, achievement, and writing self-regulation aptitude. Overwhelmingly, students described strategies like reviewing prewriting, brainstorming, and help-seeking– strategies proven effective for improving writing performance. Chi-square analysis revealed female, upper-grade level, and high-achieving students were significantly more articulate in reporting their strategies. Descriptive analysis revealed these students also reported regulating their behaviours and emotions such as taking a break or persisting at the task. There were no differences in strategy use based on self-regulation scores. We conclude with implications for writing self-regulation theory, research, and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Writing self-regulation
• content analysis
• mixed methods
• elementary school
• writing strategy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Presidential Research Initiative Programme and the VCU Foundation Langschultz Fund .

Notes on contributors

Divya Varier

Divya Varier is an assistant professor of education at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, USA. Her research focuses on the use of educational assessments to improve teaching and learning.

Sharon Zumbrunn

Sharon Zumbrunn is an associate professor of educational psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research focuses on the development of student motivation and self-regulation.

Sarah Conklin

Sarah Conklin a Ph.D. in Education graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research interests include understanding community health assessment and improvement.

Sarah Marrs

Sarah Marrs is an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research interests include writing motivation and students’ perceptions of feedback.

J. K. Stringer

J. K. Stringer is a postdoctoral scholar at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research focuses on self-concept.

Jennifer Furman

Jennifer Furman is a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research interests include student motivation with at-risk populations.